The Mystery of the Master Emerald
by The Anon of Mystery
Summary: The Master Emerald has been broken for the tenth time causing it to split into 100 pieces. Knuckles sets on a quest to find all pieces with a little help, but he's not the only one looking for them.
1. 100 Pieces

**Chapter 1: One-Hundred Pieces **

"Finally!" Knuckles screams with a huge smile on his face. "I found the last piece of the Master Emerald once again. Now then, I have other things to do."

Knuckles lifts up his hand and watches as the remaining piece of the Master Emerald floats into place. The emerald glows as it repairs itself to return back to its original shape. Knuckles' mind is at peace once again as he stares at the rotating emerald on its platform. The soft, green glow returns once more, but Knuckles notices a few things as the emerald turns.

"Oh no, it seems dirty in this spot," Knuckles points out. He pulls out a rag and gets straight to work cleaning every inch of the emerald. This is even more complicated by the fact that it's constantly spinning, but he tries his best. Once he's done, he stands back and looks at the emerald once more. The glowing is brighter and emerald is shinier.

"That's better," he remarks happily. "The emerald has to rest for a bit before I can shrink it and carry it with me. I don't want to leave it here, but I have to go visit someone first. I hope I won't come back and find it shattered like last time." Knuckles leaves from the altar to the bridge to get off of his island to go where he needs to go.

After about thirty minutes of walking, Knuckles comes across Tails in an open field behind Tails' workshop. Tails is standing next to a huge missile with a remote in his hand. The missile extends into the sky touching the clouds with light going around the tip of it. Tails is at the base putting finishing touches on it as Knuckles taps him on the shoulder.

"What's with the huge missile," Knuckles asks as he touches it.

"This is an energy-seeking missile," Tails explains. He closes the missile's hatch and steps down from the platform. "This thing can detect the nearest source of energy and destroy it within a matter of minutes. This is a test missile. Want to watch me launch it?"

"I guess," Knuckles says as he takes a seat on the grass. Tails presses the button on his remote and the ground rumbles as the missile rockets out of its base and into the air. It sores past the clouds and within a few minutes it's out of sight. Tails has a sad look on his face.

"It didn't take the bait I had set up a few miles west of here," Tails complains. "Ah well, I guess I messed up somewhere."

"Well that was interesting," Knuckles says in a sarcastic tone. "So, how has Sonic been doing?"

"Not well," Tails says. His head goes down with his voice becoming lower. "Sonic has shown no signs of improvement so far. He hasn't even waked up yet."

"Ah, that's hard to hear," Knuckles mumbles. "I came here to see if he had gotten any better. That battle with Robotnik was very brutal. I hope he gets better soon."

Tails then looks up again. He notices his missile off in the distance. It is quickly descending.

"I wonder why the missile is going in that direction," Tails tells Knuckles.

"Wait a minute," Knuckles screams. "It is going towards the altar!"

"What, I thought you said the Master Emerald was broken," Tails asks nervously.

"I just finished repairing it!" Knuckles exclaims. He takes off with Tails right behind him.

As soon as they reach the bridge to get to the island, the missile is directly overhead. It creates a huge shadow as it blocks the sun. Knuckles just stares as the missile continues its decent upon the Master Emerald. Tails is frantically trying to make some adjustments to his remote, but he's too late. The missile collides with the floating island and Knuckles grabs Tails as they run into the forest to take cover. The explosion is huge with tremendous force that's so great to the point where some of the surrounding trees uproot. Knuckles drags Tails into a cave with him until the rumbling stops. They venture outside to see the island and bridge eradicated with no emerald in sight. A mushroom-shaped cloud is above the hole that the island used to float above. Knuckles looks on with sadness in his eyes and Tails is shocked, but also secretly pleased with the impact that his missile made.

"The emerald is gone," Knuckles says sadly. His voice starts to break up. "I can't sense any remaining pieces. This is the tenth time the emerald has been broken."

"Don't worry, I'll help you find every piece since it's my fault this time," Tails says sincerely. "You have my word."

"No, this time is different," Knuckles explains. "Despite the fact that you destroyed my HOME as well, the tenth time the emerald breaks means I will have to be evaluated before I can protect it again."

"So, what's wrong with that," Tails asks innocently. "You are a good protector, and besides you is the only protector. By the way, you are the last of your kind so how can you be evaluated?"

"I will be evaluated by the person who resides in the emerald," Knuckles replies. "I never seen this person yet, and I don't know when they will show up."

"Someone is inside the Master Emerald?" Tails inquires. "That doesn't make sense. Anyway, you can stay at my workshop for as long as you need to."

"I better be able to," Knuckles remarks.

Knuckles follows Tails back to the workshop, but this whole ordeal is on his mind. Tails broke the Master Emerald, he failed at his duties, this person he will meet might be very upset, and also there is the problem of finding the pieces once more after they are activated again. His mind is clouded with many thoughts. Tails wants to say something to calm his friend, but he is afraid of Knuckles of course. Knuckles and Tails continue on without saying a word to each other. Once they make it to the workshop and Tails lets Knuckles in, Knuckles takes a seat on the couch.

"Uhh, as you can see this place is very small since most of it is a workshop so the couch is ok for you right," Tails asks nervously.

Knuckles doesn't say a word as he lays down in the couch and continues to stare at the ceiling. This makes Tails feel even worse since the silent treatment is being used on him. He leaves it be for the time being to go check on Sonic who is upstairs in the only spare bedroom. Sonic has casts on his right leg and arm. He is recouping from a previous fight with Robotnik. Tails walks up to his bed and tries talking to him, but Sonic doesn't respond. There hasn't been any sign of movement from him in weeks, well, until now.

"T-T-Tails," Sonic says weakly. "What's up buddy?"

Tails turns around with look similar to child's face on Christmas morning. "Sonic!" Tails screams. "It's about time you say something. I had doubts for a second."

Sonic laughs. "You know I can't die," Sonic explains with a big grin. "So I seem to have broken a few limbs here and there. No problem for me. I'll be back in no time then we will take care of Robotnik for good!"

"You do realize that no time equals about another month right," Tails says in a sarcastic tone.

"Well you know what I mean," Sonic replies. "You don't mind bringing me some water do you?"

"Sure thing," Tails says happily.

Tails exits the room and Knuckles enters after he heard all the commotion.

"The red man, what's up Knuckles," Sonic says.

"Good to see you awake," Knuckles says. "Sorry we couldn't help you the other day. I would have jumped in, but Shadow made off with the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald was broken at the time. I wish I could have done something instead of just standing there and watching that robot wail on you like that. We were pretty lucky Tails came when he did or you would have been in worse shape."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Sonic remarks. "Did you repair that emerald of yours?"

"Yeah but Tails out of all people broke it and blew up the island," Knuckles grumbles. "I don't believe it, and it's the tenth time. You remember when we found out what happens on the tenth time?"

"Yeah," Sonic says. "That's hard to hear. Have you seen this person yet?"

"Nah, but when they get here Tails and I will leave and we will leave you here with Amy," Knuckles says as he walks out the door.

"Wait, you're not serious are you," Sonic asks.

"Tails made a promise to me that he will help me since it's his fault in the first place, and Amy is the only person who agreed to stay and take care of you so yeah good luck with that," Knuckles laughs after that and walks out of the room. He lies back down on the sofa and closes his eyes once more. Before he can drift off into any type of sleep, Amy barges into the door of the workshop. She grabs Knuckles on the shoulders.

"Where is Sonic?" Amy screams as she shakes the life out of Knuckles.

"Upstairs, now let me go," Knuckles orders.

"Wow, I feel bad for leaving Sonic here a whole month with her," Tails replies. "Ah well, any time expectancy for when this person will show up?"

"I have no idea," Knuckles says. He thinks for a bit. "This person is supposed to appear instantly."

"Well they will come sooner or later. I guess we just wait for now," Tails suggests.

Amy comes down the stairs. She runs towards Knuckles. "I forgot to tell you that Rouge was looking for you earlier near floating island or whatever is left of it," Amy remarks.

"Really?" Knuckles asks. "Tails, let's go."

"Why I got to come?" Tails complains. "I want to work on the missile for a bit."

"Because if the person appears while I'm around and takes me on this quest then you are coming along with me!" Knuckles screams at Tails.

"Ok," Tails says with a low voice.

Knuckles and Tails reach the site of what used to be Angel Island. This only makes Knuckles sad once again. He then looks down and sees a piece of the altar buried in the dirt. He picks it up and wipes it off. Tails looks at this and is very sad, so sad that he can't even look Knuckles in the face and tries to change the subject.

"Aren't we supposed to be looking for Rouge," Tails asks.

"I saw her as soon as we arrived," Knuckles says. He points at what's left of the bridge. "She's holding a brown person."

"Why didn't you say anything," Tails questions him.

"Because I'm trying to make you feel guilty," Knuckles says with a big grin. "Nah but really, stop worrying about it. I'm not mad anymore."

"Thanks Knuckles," Tails replies with a smile.

Rouge and this person walks towards Knuckles and Tails.

"Hey, Amy said you were looking for me," Knuckles says.

"Yeah because when I passed by this girl just magically appeared out of nowhere and I had to catch her," Rouge explains. "She was looking for you. Her names start with a T or something I forgot it."

"My name is Tikal and I was the sprit who resided in the Master Emerald," she says. "Pleased to meet you."

"So the sprit who controls the Master Emerald is a girl," Tails asks.

"What's wrong with that," Rouge asks. "I detected some sarcasm in your voice there."

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that," Tails replies nervously. "I just expected a huge, powerful being because of how worried Knuckles was about the whole thing."

"Well I'm sorry I don't live up to your expectations Tails, but I sure hope we can get along on our quest to the find the 100 pieces of the Master Emerald," Tikal says.

"Wait, 100 pieces?!!" Knuckles exclaims. "I never had to find that many before. Why so many? Please tell me why so many."

"I didn't expect to you beg Knuckles. The reason is because well it's the tenth time you failed at protecting the emerald. I must accompany you on the quest to make sure you get all 100 of them," Tikal explains. "Please look after me."

"Wait, you have no powers?" Rouge asks.

"I really don't. The emerald holds all the powers I just regulate them," Tikal explains. "I'm basically helpless. The only thing I got going for me is the fact that I can't be hurt."

"So you're immortal," Tails asks. "Cool!"

"Not really," Tikal replies. "If there is no one around to protect the emerald then I eventually will die."

"Well you don't worry about that. I'll help you out," Knuckles suggests. "The emerald is my life and you are basically the emerald so your life is in my hands. We'll get all the pieces."

"Thank you so much," Tikal replies with a huge smile.

"Wait! I'll come too," Rouge interjects.

"What," Tails asks. "You usually never come with us when go do stuff."

"Well I have nothing else to do," Rouge replies.

"Cool, four people are better than three," Knuckles says.

* * *

First chapter may seem a bit boring, but it picks up as the story goes on. I urge you to read chapter 2 before you dismiss the story entirely. That is why they are getting released on the same day. Review if you want. No more messages from here on out.


	2. The Moving Pieces

**Chapter 2: The Moving Pieces  
**

"So when can we get started on looking for these things," Knuckles asks.

"Now," Tikal suggests. "Please make sure you guys have everything before we continue."

"Yeah we should go back and get some things before we head out," Tails says.

Once back at Tails' workshop, Tails checks around to pick out some things while Knuckles goes to take a look at Sonic once more with Tikal right behind him.

"Wait a minute, I know you," Sonic blurts out. "You're Tikal, right?"

"Yes I am," Tikal remarks. "You were the one who helped me calm Chaos right?"

"Yeah that's right," Sonic remembers. "You have the power to heal if I recall correctly."

"Yes I do," Tikal says.

"Hey you told us that you didn't have any powers," Knuckles says."

"Well I thought that the power to heal was sort of a minor thing so I didn't mention it," Tikal says. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it. What about fixing up Sonic here?" Knuckles asks.

Tikal order Knuckles to stand back as she spreads her hands across Sonic's body. A bright light dissipates from her hand and to Sonic's arm and leg which is currently broken. Tikal stands back as she chants some weird saying in a language that either Sonic or Knuckles understands. The casts that were around Sonic's right arm and leg come off automatically and floats to the ceiling in the room. They disappear and Sonic is completely stunned, so stunned that he doesn't even try to move. Tikal has a huge smile as Sonic and Knuckles stare at her in awe. Sonic then jumps out of the bed.

"Yes now I won't have be stuck here with Amy for a month!" Sonic screams full of glee. He grabs Tikal's hand. "Thank you so much!"

"What did you say," Amy says with tears in her eyes.

"Uhh, Amy I didn't mean it like that," Sonic implies. Amy storms off, but Sonic doesn't follow. "She'll get over it eventually," he says as he takes a seat on the bed.

"So you gonna come with us, right," Knuckles asks Sonic. "We need all the help we can get."

"I can't," Sonic replies. "I must find Shadow and get the Chaos Emeralds back. Besides, it won't take you guys long right? You usually have like 15 pieces to find."

"I got 100 this time," Knuckles says.

"Wow, well I promise when I take care of Shadow I'll find you guys," Sonic suggests. "You can count on me."

"Ok then, I'll catch you later I guess," Knuckles says. "Tails might be ready to go so we should get outside."

Tails, Rouge, Knuckles, and Tikal are currently outside going over the necessary precautions before they decide to leave in search for the pieces. Sonic catches up with them before they go.

"Hey, you might want to leave me the keys to the workshop," Sonic tells Tails. "Since I'm not going with you guys I'll come here between finding the Chaos Emeralds."

"Sure thing." Tails throws Sonic the key. "You take care of yourself."

"No problem little buddy," Sonic replies.

"Wait, you are not going with them," Amy asks. She appeared behind Sonic outta nowhere causing him to jump.

"Didn't you leave?" Sonic asks in a surprised voice. "I need to find the Chaos Emeralds first then I will join them." Sonic hesitates. "Uhh, I'm sorry for what I said earlier so do you want to come with me?"

Sonic is kicking himself as Amy accepts without any type of thinking.

"Well, we'll be off, " Knuckles says. "Our paths might cross maybe."

Sonic and Amy walks back to the workshop while Knuckles, Tails, Tikal, and Rouge sets off in search of the missing pieces.

The main group left the workshop and took a right turn which extends into a wide field with rolling hills and grass as far as the eye can see. The sun is out and it is beaming down hard. Knuckles even pulls out the shades. The wind starts to pick up creating a gentle breeze that helps on a hot day such as this. The grass begins to sway and fro as the breeze switches directions. So far they have been navigating on Knuckles' ability to sense the pieces' locations. After Knuckles leads them through field, they come across a huge lake with water so clear that you can see down to the bottom. The sun is reflecting off of the water creating shimmering light as the water moves. Knuckles stops them here.

"Three pieces are in this lake," Knuckles says.

"Really, well who feels like swimming?" Rouge says humorously.

"No wait, the pieces seem like they are moving," Knuckles says worriedly. "They are coming to the surface!"

Everyone jumps out of the way as a black figure emerges from the water. They all cover their faces as the water splashes them. Knuckles is the first to open his eyes to see who it is.

"You, why are you after the pieces of the Master Emerald," Knuckles shouts at Shadow.

"What I'm doing is none of your business. Now shut up and stay out of my way," Shadow orders.

"You know, since you stole the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic I think that it's payback time," Tails suggests. "Let's do it, Knuckles."

"Fine by me," Knuckles chuckles. "Let's do it."

"Wait you idiots," Rouge screams as she grabs both of them. "Shadow has the Chaos Emeralds right now. You will be slaughtered by him."

"I actually don't have them with me. Carrying around those things all the time are a pain," Shadow remarks. "You idiots also seem to forget that the emeralds split after you use them. I have to find them again."

"Oh yeah, right," Knuckles remembers. "Anyway, give us the pieces to the Master Emerald or Tails and I will have to take them from you by force."

Shadow chuckles then leads into uncontrollable laughter. "Tails can't do anything to me. You're better off going it alone."

"Don't you ever underestimate me!" Tails screams.

He charges up a spin dash immediately and flings himself towards Shadow. The black hedgehog blocks the attack with his hand, but the force pushes him back a bit. Tails jumps back to Knuckles' side. They look at each other and nod in confidence. Shadow rises into the air and shoots out purple lightning bolts. "Chaos Blast!" he shouts loudly. Knuckles and Tails jumps out of the way while Rouge grabs Tikal and flies up into a tree.

"You are pretty helpless, you know that," Rouge complains. Tikal doesn't say a thing as she stares at the fight below.

Knuckles pulls out the shovel claws while Tails prepares the ankle bracelets. Shadow takes off the rings around his wrists. Once they hit the ground, he starts to glow for a bit and gains a white aura. Knuckles and Tails shield their eyes from the blinding light that Shadow lets off. Once he finishes glowing, he points at Knuckles then without saying a word. He disappears then reappears right before Knuckles's face and comes at him with a right jab. Knuckles blocks this then Shadow continues punches in rapid successions. Knuckles continues to block these. This is going so fast that Knuckles is reaching his limit trying to retain focus. Tails jumps into the air and flies at Shadow so fast that if you blinked you'd miss him. He collides with the enemy and sends him into a tree on the other side of the lake. Tails flies over this lake so fast that he's invisible to the naked eye while leaving two jets of water over the lake's surface. Shadow is still sitting under the tree with his eyes close. As soon as he opens them, all he can see is Tails' foot. The fox kicks the crap out of him, sending him through three trees as he continues his path to pain.

"Wow, go Tails," Knuckles screams. "How did he learn this stuff?"

Tails continues his onslaught. He jumps through the wreckage he created with Shadow's body. Shadow jumps up and attempts to punch Tails, but Tails moves the side like something out of The Matrix. He doesn't even bother blocking Shadow's now multiple attacks. All he does dodge them, and this is all happening in the air mind you. Tails made some adjustments to the ankle bracelets that allow him to float. Tails just randomly grabs one of Shadow's punches. "Too slow," he remarks as he spins around counterclockwise in midair. Shadow is screaming throughout the whole thing. Tails release his foe on the tenth spin sending Shadow on a collision course into one of the rock formations right behind him. Shadow's impact is so hard that he leaves an impression on the surface. Before gravity could even take its course and carry him down, Tails is at the scene already. While Shadow is still impaled on the wall, Tails takes this time to wail on him. He continually strikes his opponent with devastating punches and kicks as Shadow cries out in pain.

"Hmm, looks like Sonic has been teaching him a few things," Knuckles thinks as he continues to watch. Rouge jumps down from the tree with Tikal.

"What in the world is going on with Tails," Rouge asks. She puts her hand over her mouth and is quite shocked. "He fights like Sonic now."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool if I do say so myself," Knuckles says. "Tails and I could be a very good team."

"Well, it looks like Tails IS the team to me," Rouge laughs hysterically.

Tails decides to get a little creative and starts throwing in swipes of his tails as part of his combo. He then stops cold as Shadow grabs his right tail.

"It's my turn now little pest," Shadow says calmly. He punches Tails in the face which causes the fox to flinch. Shadow then puts his hands together and comes down hard on Tails's head. He falls down to the ground and Shadow wastes no time in following. This is where Knuckles decides to jump in. He dashes towards the scene and catches some huge air. The echidna grabs his friend and puts him down right next to a tree. Tails is currently unconscious.

"Well, well, he's done already," Shadow remarks. "Well, let's see what kind of fight you can put up."

Knuckles runs at Shadow with his right arm already cocked back. Shadow smiles and moves his head to the left to dodge the slow attack. Knuckles then tries a kick with his left foot. His enemy dodges this without problems too. Tails slowly opens his eyes and struggles to get back on his feet. He looks to his left and notices the one-sided fight that's about to take place.

"Knuckles! You're too slow," Tails screams.

"What," Knuckles replies. Shadow takes this opportunity and hits Knuckles very hard in the face. Knuckles regains control in midair as he flips himself over and lands right on the side of Tails.

"Look, you are strong and I am fast. We must work together somehow in order to take him down," Tails suggest.

"How do you suppose we do that, " Knuckles asks.

Tails sighs and jumps into air to use his tails for flight. He picks up his friend by the hands. Shadow is still floating in the air with the help of his shoes. He looks at Tails and Knuckles then laughs.

"Haha, flight formation," Shadow remarks then laughs some more.

"Well if you remember that, then you'll recall thunder shoot I bet," Tails replies. He flings his partner into the air and kicks him at Shadow in the form of a red ball. It's coming too fast for him to block. Knuckles knock the black off of him causing Shadow to drop the pieces of the Master Emerald. Once they hit the ground, Tikal is the one to pick them up as Shadow flies off into the horizon. Tails and Knuckles lands after that and they both celebrate.

"How Tails, how," Knuckles says in awe. "You blew my mind today. Nice going!"

"It was all because of some training," Tails replies. "With who, I will not reveal. Just know that it's not Sonic." He winks and laughs.

"So 97 more pieces to go," Rouge says. "We should be finished in no time!"

"Being optimistic sucks," Knuckles remarks.

"Well the time will pass by fast as we continue on our quest to gather all pieces," Tikal says. "Being optimistic is a good thing."

"Uhh, there is a word for this, naive I think,"Rouge says then laughs.

"Nah I think it's pretty nice that Tikal sees it that way," Tails replies.

"Why thank you Tails," Tikal says.


	3. The Blue Chaos Emerald I

**Chapter 3: The Blue Chaos Emerald I**

Sonic sighs as he locks the door to Tails' workshop behind him. The sun is currently rising as it is peaking in from behind the rolling hills in Tails' backyard. The sky is a combination of warm colors that creates a sight behold. It's been a long time since Sonic actually had the chance to sit down and watch the sun rise, so he does just that. He darts around the house to get to the backyard. He then picks out a spot on one of the rolling hills, lies down, and stares at the sky. As the sun continues it ascension, the sky gradually goes from a very dark shade of orange to a light blue color and Sonic feels very relaxed at the scene. Next thing he knows, out of nowhere a circular shadow covers his face. He peaks back then jumps up.

"Stop doing that," Sonic says. "You ready to head on out?"

Amy nods her head in agreement. She hands Sonic Tails' old Chaos Emerald tracker and he activates it, but nothing shows up on the map.

"Hmm, we must be too far away from anything to detect something," Sonic explains. He then bends over. "Hop on so we can go already."

She jumps on his shoulders and Sonic then takes off. He runs through the hills and ends up at the lake. He sees water, but that doesn't stop him as he increases his speed to carry himself across the water while Amy holds on for dear life. While still at full tilt, Sonic runs upon the vertical rock wall. Amy is dangling around his neck, but Sonic really doesn't care. "Hold on tight," Sonic screams. He jumps away from the vertical wall and backflips over a huge rock that was jutting from the wall that blocked the path he was taking. He lands on top and Amy is back into her old position.

"You okay," Sonic asks before he continues.

"Yes, that was very fun. I'm having a great time so far," Amy replies happily. "Onwards my trusty steed!"

"Not funny," Sonic blurts out sarcastically. He hands Amy the radar. "Tell me if we get anywhere near the first Chaos Emerald."

He then darts off again. This time he's going so fast that his legs take on the wheel visual effect as he runs across the top of this plateau. Sonic then sees something at the end of the plateau that even makes him second guess his own eye sight. "Is that some dash panels and a huge jump panel," he thinks to himself. Either way, he increases his speed. Amy is already barely holding on. Once Sonic hits the first dash panel, she loses her grip and ends up grabbing Sonic's tail. She gains a proper hold here and is able to wrap her arms around his neck as he hits the second and third dash panel. Sonic hits the jump panel which goes up at a 45 degree angle. He screams as he's carried through the air. Tails' workshop is visible from here and it looks almost miniscule. Amy then starts to notice the radar getting something.

"Uh, the radar says the emerald is higher," Amy tells him. Sonic presses a button on the side of his shoes. The soles fall off and two rockets come out. He flies into the air. Sonic's tail and Amy's dress are wafting in the breeze as they pass the clouds and nearly exit the atmosphere. The sun is very bright out here as there are no clouds to in the way. The clouds are under them as Sonic looks down in astonishment. Amy takes a look at the radar again.

"The radar says that the emerald is moving. It's getting away from us and it's going towards the right." Sonic bolts off into that direction. In under a few seconds, a plane becomes visible. He can't really make it out yet, but the plane is silver in color with what appears to be one seat for current driver whom Sonic can't really tell. He follows this plane and radar's beeping starts to become more frequent. The plane is a little smaller than he imagined, and he still can't make out who it is but his main focus now are the rocket launchers which have now turned to protect the rear of the plane. Sonic spreads his arms out and gets into a horizontal position as Amy sits on his back. The first two rockets are launched and Amy grips her hammer tightly. She knocks the first missile into the second causing them to collide in midair. They explode instantly. The third and fourth missiles are launched and Amy does the same thing.

"We are approaching the plane. I'll try to throw you on the left wing and I'll land on the right so prepare yourself," Sonic orders. Amy puts the hammer away and then Sonic throws her out to the wing as promised. It was a perfect throw as she lands straight on the middle. Sonic gets on the opposite wing. The windows to the cockpit are tinted. It's impossible to see inside. Amy pulls out the hammer and smashes the windows causing glass to fly everywhere, but what they end up seeing is an empty cockpit with a hole in the middle.

"Uh oh, mayday," Sonic says. He grabs Amy and kicks off the rocket shoes again as the plane falls into oblivion. Amy still kept the radar and she points down. Sonic deactivates his shoes for kicks as they both free-fall it. They hold on to each other hand as they pass the clouds. It's still very sunny out, and Sonic decides to do something crazy. They got a good five minutes before they get anywhere near the ground, so Sonic lifts his arms which brings Amy's arms up as well. He swings them down causing Amy to spin in a rapid ball. He chuckles for a bit as Amy spins uncontrollably. He stops her as they finish their decent. He turns on the rocket shoes once more as they land, well, right on top of the workshop.

"Never do that again," Amy mumbles as she struggles to keep her balance. The radar hits Sonic on the head.

"Well, the signal is in the workshop," Sonic says. "Stay here."

Sonic jumps off of the roof. The door to the workshop is open which worries him greatly since he is supposed to be the one with the key. He barges in and looks around. No one is in the house part of Tails' place, so that only means on thing. He goes upstairs to get to the only metal door in the building. He tries to open the door but it's locked and voice password protected.

"Man I hate this type of stuff," Sonic remarks. "Uh, clue?"

He reads the panel that scrolls some words across. "So, three words. First word's clue is obvious. It's Tails. Second word's clue is some unit of speed. All I know are kilometers though. Last clue is per hour. Sounds like Tails' full name but I don't know the middle one." He then looks at the silver lining around the screen. It reads _Power by Miles Electronics_. "Who's Miles," Sonic says. The door then swings open. Sonic runs into the place. It's a huge place as Sonic could tell from the size of the roof compared to the actual building itself. Many things are here such as huge machinery, lab equipment, a helicopter pad in the middle, a huge bookshelf, and monitors for various cameras around the whole place. The only problem here is the dim lighting which makes things kind of hard to see, but a huge red button on the wall sticks out like a sore thumb. It's begging to be pushed, and Sonic does just that. The ceiling parts ways and the sun seeps in. Now the whole place is visible, and Sonic can see who's in here. Amy obviously falls in through the roof and lands right on side of Sonic. They stare straight across at the person on the other side of the room.

"No way! All this time we have been chasing around Cosmo," Sonic remarks humorously. "What a twist!"

Amy points up and Sonic jumps out of the way. Shadow falls in through the hole in the ceiling. Sonic and Amy are stunned as Shadow jumps in front of Cosmo and takes the Blue Chaos Emerald she has. Shadow tosses the emerald into the air and catches it over and over again.

"What's going on here? Tell me now," Sonic demands angrily.

"Both you and Knuckles are too curious," Shadow remarks. "Anyway, I got what I came for. "Let's be on our way Cosmo."

"Cosmo, why are you with Shadow," Amy asks.

She doesn't even say a word as Shadow lifts the emerald into the sky and yells out "Chaos Control!" They are shocked after what they just witnessed here. Sonic presses the button to close the ceiling. They walk back downstairs after that. Sonic lies down on the sofa while Amy paces the room in complete thought. Sonic is thinking as well. There's nothing in the past he can recall that would make Cosmo jump ship for some reason. Amy doesn't know anything too. The only person that would know anything is Tails but he's unreachable.

"What do you think is going on," Sonic asks Amy. "I was down and out of three weeks so I know nothing."

"I don't know anything either," Amy replies. "This is just not right for some reason. We both know that Robotnik isn't behind this because he got badly hurt like you did. Shadow is planning something and Cosmo is helping him because there's something she's getting out of the deal."

"Uh, run that by me again," Sonic says. "I'm sorry. I just never pay attention to what you say half the time. Do you ever listen to yourself talk? I almost lost my mind last night. You go on forever."

"You are so mean," Amy complains playfully. "We need to talk to Tails. I especially found it weird that Cosmo hasn't been coming around these past few days before all this even started. She used to live here too."

"I smell break up," Sonic suggests. "Now that I think about it, I do remember Tails telling me something about Cosmo wanted to do something with the Master Emerald, but she needed Tails help and Tails refused because he thought it was unethical and he knew Knuckles wouldn't go for it because it might deplete the Master Emerald entirely."

"You knew that all this time," Amy screams at him. "We still need more details though."

"That's all I know," Sonic says. "I bet I know one person who could help us out though."

"Who is that," Amy asks attentively.

"We need to give the doctor a house call," Sonic orders.


	4. The Blue Chaos Emerald II

**Chapter 4: Blue Chaos Emerald II**

Sonic and Amy has taken off from the workshop in the same fashion as before with Amy riding on the shoulders. Sonic turns left this time as he plans on going to Robotnik. This way is through the forest. There is a lone path here that Sonic must follow. This forest is very dense with light peeking in from behind the leaves on the trees. This creates a nice shade which Sonic finds to be a very good thing since carrying Amy around is kind of a hard activity. This path leads into a loop which puts a huge grin on the hedgehog's face.

"Uh, why not just run on the side of the loop," Amy suggests.

"Now that won't be any fun," Sonic replies. "Hold on to my neck, ok?"

Sonic increases his speed as he enters the loop. The world turns upside-down as he keeps his speed going while the wheel effect on his feet and legs kick in. His companion is just dangling from his neck. Sonic powers through the loop and continues to run without stopping or slowing down. He sees a broken tree in the middle of the path. Sonic gets on the right a little bit and extends his left hand to catch tree. His speed and momentum spins him around the tree. He let's go and rockets off ahead. The path now splits into three other paths. He continues down the middle one. Sonic is now coming across suspended, floating platforms.

"Am I seeing things or is that piece of the ground floating," Amy asks.

"Just like old times," Sonic remarks.

There is a path under the floating platform, but Sonic likes the high road. The path under the floating platform leads into a cave and it's too small to carry Amy under it with him anyway. Once Sonic lands on the platform, he waits. Amy is just plain confused as Sonic stands there and taps his left foot. The platform slowly rises until it meets another floating platform. Sonic jumps onto this one. While it rises, Sonic can now see over the cave. There are two vines hanging from higher trees. He backs up a bit to get some running room. He then takes off. The jump he does is just enough to the grab the vine. The speed he caught while air borne transferred onto the vine causing him to swing to the other. The second vine puts him on a path which lies on top of the cave. He lands right next to some platform with a start post on it.

"Ok, checkpoint," Sonic says. "Get off me please."

Amy jumps down. "So you are taking a break at this checkpoint?"

"Yes, you are very heavy and my neck hurts like crazy," Sonic tells her as he rubs his neck.

"No I am not heavy," Amy screams at him.

"Hop back on and lets do this, ok," Sonic orders.

Amy gets back on her usual spot and Sonic continues. He sees some spikes on the path. He jumps over the spikes and hits a red spring. The spring sends him through the leaves and now Sonic can see over them. The sun is beginning to set and the mountain which Robotnik's lair resides on is now visible, but there are still a few things in the way. The trees are very far apart, and all Sonic sees are floating springs. He can't homing attack them while carrying Amy, and he can't use the rockets in his shoes since he used all the fuel last time. So, he throws Amy at a spring. The springs bounce Amy around while she flails around like crazy. The last spring shoots her on another floating platform. Now Sonic homing attacks each spring. He lands right next to Amy.

"Please warn me before you throw me next time," Amy demands loudly.

"Hop back on so we can finish already," Sonic says.

Sonic jumps off of the platform and lands on a strip of land suspended in midair. He takes off running with Amy holding on. The path breaks off in the middle to form two paths and floating robots are here in the middle of the empty space. Sonic just moves to the left where he is greeted by a dash panel. He reaches incredible speed. Everything seems like a blur to Amy as her trusty steed continues to pick up even more speed as the path now beings to slope. There's a jump panel at the end. It shoots Sonic a long distance over the forest, but not over all of it. He lands through a hole the leaves create, and ends up back on the original path. He continues on full speed ahead. A tree blocks the path off completely, but right next to is another tree. The leaves coming from the trees create some sort of steps. Sonic throws Amy on one of the leaves. They act as some sort of springs. Amy screams violently at him as the six leaves bounces her over the tree to the other side. Sonic waves nervously then follows. Once they land on the other side of the tree, they look ahead to see another floating platform over a bottomless pit.

"Man I hate bottomless pits," Sonic detests. "I can cross it without waiting for the platform, but you have to wait I guess."

"Well duh," Amy remarks.

Amy gets back on Sonic's shoulders and Sonic jumps on the floating platform which carries them over the bottomless pit. There is another checkpoint with a speed panel right after it. Sonic continues on and hits the speed panel. It sends to him a yellow spring which launches him over the leaves to the top of the forest. This time there are different paths to take, one on top of each other. Sonic thinks for a bit then throws Amy to the middle path. He jump dashes over to the middle pathway. Amy gets back on top of him and then he runs towards the jump panel. The jump panel sends them up to the sky and into a red ring. There are five red rings in the shape of an upside-down L. The last ring is a rainbow colored ring which shoots them over the whole forest to the other side. Amy gets off once they land.

"That was pretty easy and a little short," Amy says.

"Eh, it will get harder as we look for more Chaos Emeralds," Sonic tells her. "Wait, I feel something. Jump back!"

Sonic guards Amy as Shadow reappears with Cosmo right behind him.

"Ah, it's about time we meet again," Sonic says sarcastically. "Hand over the Chaos Emerald!" he demands.

"Nah, I don't have it," Shadow replies. "Cosmo and I are keeping what we find in a special place."

"And I bet this special place is Tails' air base, right?" Sonic says. "The key to it is what Cosmo did steal before Tails kicked her out."

"And your point is," Shadow answer with another question. "You can't get in it anyway."

"Uh, Tails makes three copies of all his keys and he gives one of them to me except for the one to his house," Sonic explains. "Anyway, we still have some unfinished business to take care of. You fleeing with the Chaos Emeralds during my last battle with Robotnik almost cost me an arm and a leg. Before we fight, I want to know one thing. Why does Cosmo have ten pieces of the Master Emerald? Only Knuckles and Tikal can use the powers anyway."

"Who is Tikal," Shadow asks. "Wait; is it the sort of brown girl that was with Knuckles and Tails the other day?"

"Yeah, she regulates the power of the Master Emerald. Without her it's useless to you," Sonic tells him.

"Oh wow, I guess I need to capture this girl," Shadow replies. "I'll tell you what. I'll let Cosmo finish you two off while I go after Knuckles and his party." Cosmo hands Shadow the pieces of the Master Emerald she has. "I'll see you later, faker," Shadow says as he takes off.

Cosmo is staring Sonic in the eyes currently. Her face seems emotionless as if she has an empty soul. Sonic and Amy are confused and they don't want to fight her of course. Instead, they try to talk to her, but it wields no response except for one.

"You'll get no answers from me so stop trying," she rejects furiously.

"Man, what happened to you," Sonic exclaims. "Because Tails didn't want to help you on your little project, you want to take it out on us. Well, girl or not a fight is a fight!"

"Trust me when I say that I don't want to waste my time fighting you," Cosmo says calmly. "It wouldn't be much of a fight. I just want to complete my task and then live in peace, and I will allow no one to stop me. This includes you or anyone else. Both Shadow and I have our own plans and, for these plans we need the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald in tandem."

"What are these plans," Sonic asks her. "I have been hanging around Knuckles for years so I know many things about the Master Emerald, and I only know of three things that require the Chaos Emeralds with it. One is to cancel out the Chaos Emeralds, another is to neutralize a powerful being, and the last one has something to do with life but it depletes the Master Emerald entirely. I will not let you do that since if the Master Emerald goes then Knuckles will be devastated and Tikal will cease to exist. I will fight you right here if I have to. By the way, this fight would be a waste of time because, well, you're a plant and I can do something called a fire somersault."

"You know you can't do that," Cosmo remarks. "I wish things could go back to the way they used to be, but I'm in too far and I have to continue." Her eyes began to tear up. "I really don't want to do this, but I must or Shadow will take me out." Cosmo cries. She turns around so that her back is facing Sonic and she tries to keep a steady face.

"Oh hoho, I almost bought it!" Sonic screams. "Let's do this before it turns nighttime, ok?"

Amy then points up as a helicopter lands from above. It comes down right behind Sonic and Amy. The door swings open and Knuckles is the first to jump out.

"Hey Sonic, we found a Chaos Emerald in Tails' air base." Knuckles throws it to him. "What's Cosmo doing here?"

"You won't believe it but Cosmo has joined the dark side," Sonic explains.

"What," Tails says as he jumps out of the helicopter. "What do you mean by that?"

"Cosmo came here with Shadow and they had ten pieces of the Master Emerald," Amy says. "Shadow went off in search of Tikal."

"No way," Knuckles screams worriedly. "Why, Cosmo, why?"

"I will never reveal the plan," Cosmo says.

"What the hell are we standing around for," Knuckles asks everyone. "Let's just grab her and end this."

"Word," Sonic agrees. He pulls out his Chaos Emerald, but Shadow arrives once again.

"Ah, so now you all are here," Shadow says.

"Amy, you and Rouge take Tikal to the workshop while Knuckles, Tails, and I handle Shadow and Cosmo, now," Sonic orders hurriedly.

"Eh, you handle them," Shadow suggest as he watches the helicopter take off. He follows the helicopter. Sonic and Knuckles gives chase after him while Tails is stuck with Cosmo.


	5. Change the Present to Alter the Future

**Chapter 5: Change the Present to Alter the Future  
**

"Before we do this, I want to know one thing," Tails demands. "Why did you partner up with Shadow?"

"Because Shadow and I have the same goal. We both want to achieve the same thing," Cosmo explains. "You didn't help me so I took matters into my own hands."

"Well that's because what you guys are trying to pull off may drain the Master Emerald entirely and Knuckles would be devastated," Tails replies. "Also, the Master Emerald is needed to control the power of the Chaos Emeralds, and Tikal would be gone. Forget your foolish goal. Why do you not think of what's best for everyone before you try to do this?"

"I don't need to hear this from you," she says.

Cosmo raises into the air and Tails notices one thing that he should have seen before. She has a copy of Shadow's shoes on. Tails just wants to end this as soon as possible so he starts instead of waiting for her. He jumps into the air and takes flight. His ankle bracelets kick in causing him to gain more speed as he approaches his target. Cosmo ducks as Tails passes over her head. She reaches up and grabs a tail. The fox looks very worried as his ex-girlfriend swings him over her head and to the ground. She does it over and over again while alternating on sides. After the tenth swing, she throws him into a tree. Tails screams as he collides with the tree. Cosmo runs towards him. He blocks her kick with his right arm. She attempts to punch him with her left hand, but her opponent saw this coming. Tails grabs it then throws her upwards. He runs up the tree after Cosmo's airborne body. He reaches the top of the tree before Cosmo gets there. He jumps into the air and spins with his right leg out, kicking her back down. He stares as she falls at an alarming pace. Her collision with the ground was so hard that the tree Tails is standing on shakes a bit. After regaining his balance, he looks down once more and can't see her. He then hears a noise behind him.

"Hello," Cosmo says.

She proceeds to slap him very hard, so hard that Tails holds his face. She then kicks him in the face so hard that Tails moves back. He uses his tails to float so he doesn't fall. He stares with confusion as her skirt starts to spin. It emerges from her body while moving at a rapid pace. He still doesn't understand what's going on, but he gets an idea once it strikes him in the face. The outer edge of the skirt contains sharp leaves which left multiple cuts on Tails' face. He touches his face and removes his hand to see blood all over his white glove. The skirt that Cosmo had on descended to the ground below, and now she's wearing no skirt as Tails can see. Either way, he forges on with a look of determination. He bolts off towards her. Once he gets within range, he begins to hit her with many attacks. So many punches and kicks are thrown that they can't even be seen by Cosmo as Tails continues to open a can of whoop ass on her. He ends it with a kick on top of her head sending her down to the ground. He flies down there and picks up her razor skirt. Tails uses this as a shield as Cosmo starts to rush him. He blocks every attack she puts out. Once she's done with that, she steps back and rises into the air. She begins to glow purple while Tails stands there in confusion.

"What's going on," Tails screams. "No way she's about to do what I think she will do. Either way, I must stop her!"

Tails flies at her for one last hurrah, but then Cosmo releases her attack. A huge explosion equivalent to the size of Tails' missile is what comes out of her. Tails just stares at his inevitable doom. The explosive attack hits him and sends him flying off into the distance. Cosmo disintegrates everything within the radius of her attack. Whole trees disappear, grass is gone, and there is even a huge crater in the ground. The place now looks like a wasteland. She looks on at her destruction while panting. Tails is flying away from the scene unconscious.

Amy is piloting the jet while Rouge shouts random commands that Amy's not listening to. Tikal is sitting in the back with an innocent look on her face. On the outside, Shadow is keeping up with the jet no problem. Sonic and Knuckles are right on the side of him. Shadow shoots a Chaos Blast at the jet. It moves out the way and misses of course. He's now mad at the outcome. He jumps up onto the left wing. Sonic grabs Knuckles and flies up there using his shoes. They land on the left side as well.

"Ok Knuckles, here is the deal. You distract him then I will kick his butt," Sonic whispers.

"Whatever," Knuckles says unenthusiastically.

Knuckles runs towards Shadow who is on the edge of the wing. He jumps and Knuckles flails around as he stops himself from going over the edge. Shadow lands right behind him, sticks out his finger, and pushes Knuckles off. He tumbles onto the ground. Shadow laughs hysterically. Sonic spin dashes towards Shadow which pushes him back a bit, but not enough. Shadow jumps up and does a spinning kick attack which knocks Sonic into the cockpit window. He backflips over to the other side as Shadow comes running with a punch. His attack puts cracks throughout the window. Rouge is watching the fight with eyes wide open while giving Amy updates every now and then. Shadow leaps over the cockpit and lands on Sonic's side who takes no time returning the favor with a flying kick. He knocks his foe over to the other side back on his wing. He tumbles to the edge and manages to grab it before falling over. Sonic gets to scene as fast he can, but Shadow swings himself under and over the end of the wing. He ends up kicking Sonic in the back, and now he's in a tough spot.

Shadow chuckles. "Tails was able to put up more of a fight than you!"

"Oh yeah, well we'll see about that," Sonic remarks. He pulls out his Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!" Sonic disappears and Shadow is stunned. He reappears right behind him and kicks him behind the head in midair. Shadow falls on his back. Sonic jumps up and rolls into a ball then he launches himself at Shadow. Shadow is defensive, but Sonic manages to push him back with each consecutive hit. Shadow slips and falls once he out far enough. He manages to grab onto the wing at the right time. The environment is beginning to work against Sonic's favors. The sun is gone from the sky now, and the moon is nowhere to be seen. It's completely dark outside. Amy is able to find out how to turn on the headlights for the ship, but she can't light up the whole ship. Shadow is nearly invisible to Sonic now. He uses this to his advantage. He jumps up and Sonic is frantically looking around. He then feels a tap on his shoulder.

"Boo," Shadow whispers.

Sonic turns around and Shadow punches him in the face. He flips to the end of the wing and drops the Chaos Emerald. Shadow picks it up, walks to the end of the wing, and holds it in Sonic's face.

"It's mine now," Shadow mocks to Sonic. "Get up and try to get it."

"I won't do anything at all," Sonic says. He flips himself under the ship. Shadow looks down with his back turned. Tails' unconscious body slams into Shadow. He falls off of the wing while dropping the Chaos Emerald and the pieces of the Master Emerald. Sonic picks all of these up before they fall. He then runs to Tails who is still knocked out. Sonic picks up his falling friend and holds him until they reach their destination.

Amy crash lands the jet in Tails' backyard. Sonic runs into the workshop and lays Tails on the sofa. Amy, Rouge, and Tikal enters after them.

"Hey Tikal, feel like working your magic again?" Sonic suggests.

"Sure, carry him to the bedroom for me please," Tikal request.

Sonic picks up Tails and runs up there. He then comes back down in under a second. "Done," he says as he takes a seat. Tikal goes up there. Sonic, Amy, and Rouge talk about today's events as they wait for Knuckles.

"I wonder what happened to Tails. He had bruises all over his body and cuts on his face," Sonic says.

"That seems impossible. No way Cosmo did that him," Rouge remarks in disbelief. "Something else must have done it. Besides, even unconscious Tails saved the day!"

"Not funny," Sonic remarks. "Shadow is black so when it was really dark out I couldn't see him. It was like as if I was a teacher at class taught night. I would mark him absent because I could not see him."

"Nice analogy," Rouge says as she laughs. "I wonder where Knuckles is."

"Didn't he get knocked off way before us even got half way," Amy recalls. "Like at the starting of the fight?"

"Yeah," Sonic remembers. "He fell for the oldest trick in the book."

Knuckles walks in through the door.

"Uh, look who I found on my way over here." He moves to the side and reveals Silver who is right behind him.

"Guys, I must talk to you," Silver says hurriedly. "It's important."

"Well, Tails is out cold right now so just tell us and we'll tell him later," Sonic replies.

"This has nothing to do with him. It's about Cosmo," Silver explains. "You see, in the future, Cosmo manages to achieve her goal. Once she does this, she does a few things. First of all, she rules the world. Second of all, she gets rid of Eggman. Third of all, she murders Shadow. Last but not least, she manages to get Tails on her side again and forces him to become her slave. The last part is the most important, because she uses Tails and his machinery prowess to destroy everything and rebuild the planet to something more similar to her old world. The Master Emerald doesn't die out, but the Chaos Emeralds dissipate leaving you guys to have no defense against her. The future looks pretty bleak, so I came here to tell you guys that your main focus should not be Shadow or the pieces of the Master Emerald. You need to go after Cosmo. One more thing, even though he doesn't show it, Tails sort of still likes Cosmo. You guys got to solve that some way too. I'll return back to future, and I hope you guys can change things."

"Wait, what," Knuckles says. His head hurting from that mess of a story.

"Man, Cosmo just goes mad with power, eh," Rouge remarks.

"Exactly, we need to put her in her place as quickly as possible," Amy replies.

"She's a plant, flamethrower all day, baby," Knuckles says.

"It won't be that easy. We need to get to in the head too," Sonic suggest. "I have an idea."

"What is it?" they all ask.

"You'll find out next time," Sonic says as he gives a thumbs up.


	6. Operation Tikal

**Chapter 6: Operation Tikal**

"Here is the deal, we know now that they need Tikal for the Master Emerald," Sonic explains. "So, I suggest we send over a fake Tikal to find out whatever we can about those two so we can have a more successful plan of attack."

"A fake Tikal," Knuckles asks. "But how do you expect us to come up with a fake Tikal? I mean, no one here is the same height as her except for Tails, no one here has near the same color as her except for Tails, no one could clone her voice except for Tails, no one can…"

"Alright we get it," Sonic interrupts. "We need to turn Tails into Tikal."

"Uh, don't I have a say in this," Tails asks. "I don't know if I really feel like doing this. Come on, I mean I can take Shadow. You saw, right Knuckles?"

"That may be true, but Cosmo did beat you so that says something," Knuckles replies then laughs.

"The fact that she used Chaos Blast caught me off guard," Tails tells him. "She's like a Shadow two."

"Well, that is why we shall use you as bait," Sonic says.

"Ok I guess," Tails says with doubt in his voice.

"Alright, we need your help Tikal," Sonic orders. "Will you help us out?"

"I would be happy to," Tikal remarks with a big smile.

"Cool," Sonic exclaims. "First step is the transformation. Take Tails up to his room and see how close you can get him to looking like you."

"I don't need to do that, just give me a piece of the Master Emerald," Tikal says.

"This will never work," Rouge tells Amy as they both chuckle in the background.

Knuckles tosses Tikal a piece of the Master Emerald. She instructs Tails to hold it. Tikal blurts out some weird incantation that even Knuckles can't understand. The piece of the Master Emerald floats above Tails' head then begins to spin rapidly. Both Tikal and Tails are caught in the radius of piece's spin. She then grabs Tails' hands then the piece begins to light up. It creates a blinding, green light that's so bright you'd think a nuclear reaction was going on. Everyone covers their face as the light's intensity begins to grow. Tails and Tikal have seemed to disappear in this light. Then within a few seconds it's over. The light dissipates, the piece falls to the floor, and Tikal and Tails are standing there as if nothing happened until Tails faints. Sonic runs to the scene.

"Are you alright Tails," Sonic asks.

"Uh, I'm right behind you," Tails says.

"No way, body transfer," Knuckles says. "That's pretty cool.

"What," Tails screams. He runs upstairs to check a mirror then runs back down screaming.

"This is weird," Tails says as he grabs Sonic. "Fix this now!"

Sonic gently pushes him away. "Tikal did a good job," Sonic says. "Now then, I'll take you to in front of Robotnik's place and leave you there."

"Alright," Tails says with that same old hesitation. He hops on Sonic's back and he runs off. Just then, Tikal wakes up.

"Did I do it," she asks.

"Yes Tails, uh I mean Tikal, uh I mean I need to take a nap," Knuckles says.

Sonic has decided to take a short cut this time and goes around the forest, but what he didn't count on was seeing a huge lake on the left side of it.

"Well, what you know, this looks like fun," Sonic replies as looks forward. "Hold on tightly."

"This is a little bit too weird," Tails says. "It just wouldn't feel right clinging on to you in a girl's body."

"Relax man," Sonic explains. "You are plain old Tails in there. Besides, I don't really think nothing of it, so let's go."

Sonic takes off. A little bit before reaching the lake, Sonic finds three things: A TV containing 100 rings, a TV containing water shield, and a chain. Sonic jumps on the first TV to get the rings. He throws Tails at the second TV so Tails gets the water shield. He picks up the lock and chain, ties one end around his body and the other around Tikal's body, locks it up and gives Tails the key.

"What did you do that for," Tails asks.

"Because I have to run over the water and their might be obstacles along the way like they had in the forest," Sonic says. "There's no way I can carry you and do that at the same time. Ready?"

"No," Tails says.

"Ok," Sonic replies.

He takes off over the water. As Sonic continues to run he notices that he starts to sink. He then remembers that he needs to maintain a constant rate of speed to run over water, and that's what the 100 rings were for. He decides to use his Sonic Boost. He flies ahead leaving sort of two mini waves behind him. As the water rises, it leaves behind a rainbow that Tails stares at in awe. Sonic's first obstacle comes in the way of an electric robot. He jumps over this while still boosting and now has two choices, jump through a dash ring or turn to the left. Sonic jumps and hits three dash rings which lets him out on a platform just above the lake. He stands here and looks ahead to plan his route. There are many platforms connected in a row. Every now and then the platforms split leaving a hole, but they give space for Sonic to run on the left or right. They then join once again after a little while. Tails stares with confusion on his face.

"How you expect to get through this," Tails asks.

Sonic turns around and notices Tails sitting there in the bubble with the confused look then turns around quickly.

"With the quick step," Sonic says nervously.

"What's wrong," Tails questions him.

"Nothing, you just look sort of cute with look on your face," Sonic mumbles.

"What," Tails says.

"Nothing," Sonic replies.

He boosts straight ahead. Within a few seconds the path splits and Sonic steps over to the right. He is beginning to run out of energy, but Sonic runs through a trail of ten rings which makes him pleased. On the left path there was a TV with fifty rings and he notices this which makes him kind of angry. Anyway, he forges on. He steps back to the left once the paths join again and notices that they split once more. He takes the left side this time, but that was the wrong move as he hits a springs which sends him straight down for the water. He looks down and notices that he will land on a dash panel. The panel brings him up to speed once again. He turns on his boost and continues onward. Stone pillars randomly pop up in the water which Sonic avoids by using the quick step over and over again. He then ends up following a trail of rings which leads him on a rail. While Sonic is grinding, the rail behind him starts to fall. He boosts to pick up speed while keeping a close eye on the path ahead. The rail he is currently on end and two more rails are on either side. He takes the right one which ends with a spring that sends him through two rainbow-colored dash rings. He hits a TV with 100 rings in it.

"Feeling good," Sonic screams as he begins his decent.

He lands on another dash panel which brings him up to speed. He activates the boost once again and ends coming to a stop once he hits a checkpoint on the lakeside.

"That was pretty cool," Tails says. "I bet the next part will be even harder!"

Of course Tails says this, but he heard it in Tikal's voice which made him nervous once again. He takes off without saying a word to Tails. There are huge spiked balls covering the whole lake, but there is a jump panel right before them. Sonic hits the panel and rockets into the sky over the balls. He hits another dash ring which sends him straight on a spring suspended in midair. He notices a trail of rings just sitting there and forgets what to do next.

"Sonic, use the light dash," Tails screams.

Sonic dashes across the line of rings. They take him over the majority of the lake. The light dash ends once Sonic goes through three more dash rings and flies through another checkpoint. He lands on a floating block of ice which is on top of the lake. The ice is slowly carrying him forward. Above him is a spiked ball. He ducks to avoid this one while swinging his body so Tails is kept to the side to avoid destroying the shield. Next there is a long line of spiked balls with three enemies over them. Sonic jumps and homing attacks over these enemies. He does one more jump dash and lands on the other side of the lake. He runs through a sign that spins and stops to show his face. Tails jumps out of the shield and unlocks the chains.

"That was pretty sweet," Tails screams. "Thank you very much," he replies with a smile.

Sonic tries not to turn around and look at his face. "It was no problem," he says.

"Why you can't look at me for some reason," Tails asks. "Is it because I'm in Tikal's body? I thought that didn't bother you."

"No, that's not it," Sonic replies. "It's nothing. You can find your way from here right?"

"Yeah I guess so," Tails says. "You can leave now. I promise I won't let everyone down."

Sonic takes off going through the forest this time, and Tails walks on ahead. He eventually reaches the same spot as last night, and just as Sonic had said Shadow wasted no time in returning. He sees Tails and immediately starts talking.

"You out here alone without Tails, Knuckles, or Sonic," Shadow says in disbelief.

Tails tries to come up with a lie and says the first thing that comes to his mind. "We got in an argument and I took a walk. I don't want to see their faces at the moment," Tails says. He is a pretty good actor as Shadow believed every word. The fact that he's in Tikal's body and has the same voice probably helped him out too.

"Well, you wanna come with me," Shadow asks. "I'll take you away from here so you can clear your mind."

"I would like that," Tails says. Shadow grabs Tails and uses Chaos Control.

In the meanwhile, Sonic makes it back to the workshop and walks in to notice everyone piled in front of Tails' computer. From a glimpse he notices that they able to see what Tails currently sees due to a camera Tails put on Tikal before the change. Sonic tries to creep out of the room and heads towards the stairs, but one of them creeks and they all turn around to see Sonic.

"What's up everyone," Sonic says.

"Ha, Sonic likes Tikal Tails," Knuckles says then laughs uncontrollably.

"Uh well you see about that," Sonic hesitates. "Uh, no comment."

Knuckles then begins to mimic Tikal and Sonic while adding his own spice to it. "How do you plan on getting through that Mister Sonic," Knuckles says as high as his voice will allow him. He then makes a turn so his back is facing Sonic. "With the quick step," he says in a broken, Sonic-like voice. He then makes another turn so he is facing Sonic again. "What's wrong Mister Sonic," Knuckles says again in falsetto. He turns around once more. "You kind of cute with that look on your face," he says in Sonic's voice. He then laughs it up. Rouge does so also, Amy stares at him with a blank look on her face, and Tikal is sitting in the back looking confused.

* * *

To make up for my absence expect the next chapter tonight :O


	7. The Mind of a Plant

**Chapter 7: The Mind of a Plant**

Shadow's Chaos Control ends up taking Tails to a spot very deep in the forest. The forest is dense and almost no light is coming in through the ceiling. Shadow leads Tails to a random tree stump. He lifts the top off of it to reveal a huge slide. Shadow throws Tails in and jumps in after. The slide is a corkscrew which exits onto a red pillow. It leads to a cave from which it is evident that Shadow and Cosmo constructs all operations in. The cave is shaped like a dome. Lights are hanging from the ceiling. All the way to the back of the room is a huge metal door. It's shaped as if a plane could go through it. On the left is sort of a mini-laboratory. All this material is stuff from Tails' air base which he notices right away. On the right there is a very large glass container which shows off their Master Emerald Collection. They have found five more pieces since the fight from last night, and Cosmo is here placing another piece.

"Cosmo, check it out," Shadow screams. "I got the Master Emerald Girl. I'll go out and look for a Chaos Emerald. You keep your eye on her for me."

Shadow teleports out with Chaos Control. Tails takes a seat in one of the available chairs. His main mission is to find out about their operation, but there isn't much to find out. It looks like they are both working independently and are taking turns. One looks for the Chaos Emerald and one looks for a piece of the Master Emerald. Tails knows exactly where this place is. He used to build planes for test flights in here. There's nothing to discover, but there are a few things that Tails would like to know. Now since he's in a different body, he has the chance to do so. Tails walks over to Cosmo who is sitting in front of the emerald case. He takes a seat right on side of her.

"So if you don't mind could I ask you a few questions," Tails says.

"Why," Cosmo asks.

"Because it's boring just sitting here until Shadow gets back," Tails replies. "Why are you teaming with Shadow do this?"

"Because my best friend at the time wouldn't help me," Cosmo explains. "In a way, I sort of understood his position, but I really had the need to get this done regardless of what happened."

_She only thought of me as a friend_… "So this friend, who was he," Tails asks.

"Ah yes, Tails. You probably know him by now," Cosmo says. "We were very close, sort of almost more than friends that is until he rejected to help me out. Yeah ok Knuckles would have been devastated, the Master Emerald may have ceased to exist, and the Chaos Emeralds may have been drained of all their power but my desire to pull this off outweighed my line of thinking. I took a walk after our argument and ran into Shadow who was looking for a Chaos Emerald at the time."

"So what about Shadow, why are working with him," Tails inquires.

"Hmm, well I guess it's because he's very nice to me," Cosmo answers with a smile. "You see, Shadow saw me there all sad and down and he offered to help for no reason at all. I explained what happened and he said that he thought we could make a wonderful team together with his strength and my intelligence. We are both working together to achieve a sort of similar goal. We both seek to revive something. Also, have I mention how nice and cooperative Shadow has been? For example, while searching for piece of the Master Emerald in the mountains to the west, I had a very bad fall while trying to reach for one piece. Shadow took me on his back, carried me to our plane, and nursed me. He made me happy and I sort of fell in love with him."

Of course, Tails is pretty angry at the moment, but he hides it.

Back at the workshop, Sonic and Knuckles takes that as the signal to go get Tails. They run straight for the forest. Sonic puts Knuckles to a halt before they continue on the path that leads into the forest.

"I know exactly where the place is that showed up on the monitor," Sonic remembers. "There's only one problem."

"What," Knuckles asks.

"We need to dig in order to get to it," Sonic explains. "And not just some ordinary digging. We have to go to the waterfall on the other side of this hill and dig below the metal door."

"Ha, no problem. Did you forget who I am," Knuckles says sarcastically. He pulls out the shovel claws. "I'll have Tikal, I mean Tails out in no time!"

Sonic leads Knuckles over to the waterfall. The same lake that Sonic carried Tails over is where the water from the waterfall comes from. There's a huge drop from here to the bottom. It's a very wide waterfall too. It's so wide that they can't even see the end of it from here, but Sonic does point out the metal door. Since the sound of the water rushing is so loud, Sonic hand signals Knuckles what to do one more time before he goes for it. Knuckles puts on his sunglasses and jumps then glide off of the hill. He turns around and pushes his fists into the cliff. Knuckles moves to the right as fast as he can. The water is so loud that he can't even hear himself think. He reaches the metal door and digs under it. He goes straight for a bit then up. He ends up coming in through the Master Emerald Case. Fortunately for him, he didn't catch the attention of Tails or Cosmo. He uses this opportunity to take the six pieces of the Master Emerald they had. He then waits. Cosmo eventually gets up and walks to the other side of the room. Knuckles uses this chance to dig under the case, grabs Tails, and get the hell out of there. Once he makes back on the hill, Sonic grabs Tails and carries her to safety with Knuckles right behind.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all enter the workshop. Sonic puts Tails down.

"Well, we now know how they operate," Tails explains. He sits in a white, plastic chair and crosses his right leg over his left much like a girl would do. "They obviously take turns one after another trying to find either a piece or a Chaos Emerald. They always end up take refuge in one of my old bases and they always end up using my stuff. Also, I saw they had six pieces of the Master Emerald."

Knuckles laughs then pulls out the pieces he stole.

"Good work Knuckles," Sonic congratulates him. "Now we have even more pieces. I'm not sure on the exact number though. Has anyone been keeping count?"

Everyone in the room shakes their head to say no.

"Man we should really take count of those things," Sonic remarks. "Anyway, we should obviously prepare for their inevitable appearance. We need to change Tails and Tikal back first."

"Uh, that's good in all, but Tails needs to learn my incantation," Tikal says.

"That's ok, I memorized it," Tails says. He takes a piece of the Master Emerald off of the table then walks over to Tikal. He places it in her hands then begins the incantation matching each word exactly, doing all of her gestures perfectly and everyone are just stunned at the sight. The pieces floats then spins, Tails grabs Tikal's hands, the piece lights up and everyone shields their eyes again. Once the transformation is complete, Tails is the one to faint, and everything's back to normal.

"Tikal, you take care of Tails while we prepare for Shadow and Cosmo's arrival," Sonic says. "Take him up to his room and lock the door. It's the safest room in the house because of all the security features he got running through it. Maybe your healing powers might make him wake up quicker."

Sonic, Knuckles, Rouge, and Amy walk outside while Tikal actually carries Tails to his room. She lays him down on his bed and floats her hands over his body to begin the healing ritual. Tails actually comes to within a few seconds, but he feels a little weak. He looks to his right to see Tikal standing there.

"I guess I did fine," he says as he notices he's not looking at his own body right now. His head hits the pillow again.

"I hope you don't mind me asking but how did you learn everything I did down to the last detail," Tikal asks innocently. "I was very impressed. You did everything perfectly."

Tails sits up once more. "I guess it's because of two reasons. I have a pretty good memory and for some reason when you were doing your routine I just could not look away. It was very interesting and I enjoyed watching you do it. Maybe you could teach me some of the routines one day?"

A smile lights up on Tikal's smile which makes Tails blush in an instant. "I'll be happy to," Tikal says joyfully. "No one has ever told me they liked my routine before."

"Uh, no problem," Tails says nervously.

"Is there anything else I can do for you," she asks.

Tails hesitates for a moment. "If it's not too much trouble, would you mine sitting here and talking with me for a minute?"

Tikal takes a seat on the bed and Tails gets overly nervous again but he calms down. "You see, I never really had anyone to talk to about the thoughts that go on in my head," he explains. "This whole Cosmo ordeal is secretly really getting to me. Before all this stuff went down I actually was truly in love with her for some reason. I mean, we both shared the same interests and we actually lived together in this very place. Everything was going fine, but I always had doubt that she really didn't feel the same way about me as I did about her. Once she approached me with her plan there was no way I could help her out. It would have endangered too many people and destroyed both of the sets of emeralds. We when argued and she left out of that door I felt like I blew my one chance at happiness. I actually thought about going after her and agreeing to help her out, but I just couldn't do it. At that moment, I realized that Sonic and Knuckles and everyone else wouldn't be around all the time like they were in the past. I would be really lonely when they weren't around, but when those time would come I would have Cosmo. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I hopelessly stuck to the notion that maybe I'll be able to get her back once I made her see the error of her ways, but that little conversation I had with her when she said she loved Shadow made me feel devastated."

Tikal can't think of anything to add at this point. She just looks at him with a little sad expression of her own.

"On the other hand, both Sonic and Knuckles sort of have someone already in a way," Tails continues. "Sonic has Amy and Knuckles has Rouge. Even Shadow had that girl at one point in time but she was murdered by Robotnik for reasons unknown. Me, I'll just be plain lonely for the rest of my days."

"That's not true," Tikal says. "You will always have friends. I will be your friend too."

Tails can't find the words to reply at the moment. He stares at Tikal then Sonic comes running in killing the whole mood. Tails falls out of the bed once he hears the door swing open and Tikal jumps up.

"Tails, we need you outside," Sonic says. "It seems you are better."

Tails' head is on the floor. He jumps up and walks out with Tikal right behind him.

* * *

So next chapter will be full of fighting mostly and may be double length so it will take me a bit for that one D: I'll get to work on updating my other two current stories throughout my extended weekend.


	8. The Melancholy of Dr Ivo Robotnik

**Chapter 8: The Melancholy of Dr. Ivo Robotnik**

"His vital signs are finally gone," a robot says.

Deep within Robotnik's lair is where they are. Robotnik was on his death bed. He was heavily damaged Super Shadow. _**This all took place one month ago…**_

"I finally think that I have the ultimate plan here," Robotnik screams happily looking at his schematics. He just finished coming up with ideas of the most elegant design. Deep within his lair he stayed for the past three months creating the ultimate machine that would take down Shadow and anything in its path. This machine is a clone, more like a bionic clone. It's a clone of Maria.

Backing up even further into the plot, about a week ago Robotnik wanted to test something. He needed a special practice object. It wasn't any ordinary thing he needed. He needed a human body and a soul. This was obviously quite difficult to him considering that Maria was the only other human being on the planet. This circumstance had Robotnik in a tight spot. At first he didn't want to go through with it. He actually had a deep feeling of regret, but he went ahead with it anyway. The day before the capture, he sent an invitation to Maria's place of residence. Both Shadow and her resided in this place that Robotnik actually built for her. He figured that this little act of his would be his repayment. What he did not count on was it being his final act.

Shadow was actually out for that day for reasons unknown. Maria received the notification by way of one of Robotnik's robots. She decided to go by herself instead of waiting for Shadow to return so they could go together. That was a huge mistake. Maria walks into her cousin's base not suspecting anything. Robotnik actually had the place prepared for Shadow, but Maria coming here by herself made it so much easier. Before Maria could even take step number two, she was sucked up into a tube in the ceiling. It was air tight, thus Maria actually slowly died due to lack of oxygen. Once she was dead, Robotnik's work began.

Shadow had returned the moment that Maria took off. He went all around the place looking for his very special friend, but once he came up empty he went a little crazy. For his first act of mental breakdown, he actually went to Sonic for advice. He took off to Tails' workshop, a place he would never visit. He immediately asked Sonic if he spotted Maria anywhere recently. Sonic said that he did, but she was going towards Robotnik's lair. That's all the motivation Shadow needed. He didn't even waste time running. Chaos Control did the work for him as he landed in Robotnik's base. Lucky for the home owner, he wasn't there. The first thing Shadow done was dart through every corner of the place. He couldn't find anything until he got into the warehouse. The first thing he noticed that sat prominently in front of his face was Maria's body floating in a huge glass dome surrounded by blinding lights. He knew what happened and planned to return the favor as soon as possible. He went off in on a month long search of the Chaos Emeralds to get his revenge.

Back to Robotnik who stares with glee at his Maria android. It looks exactly like the real thing. All he needed to do now was hit the switch located on her back and prepare to watch his plan unfold. That same morning Robotnik released his creation onto the public, and what a debut it was. He equipped it with a camera located on a necklace that he watched while sitting in a comfy, blue chair. The first thing he programmed it to do was track down Shadow and destroy him. Whoever got in her way, she had to exterminate. Right outside of the forest in front of Robotnik's lair is Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. They had recovered Chaos Emerald number seven. Once Sonic looked off into the distance and spotted what appeared to be Maria, he ran into her path to tell her that Shadow was looking for her. That was a huge mistake. This obviously caught Sonic off guard as the android ran at him with speeds comparable to his own. She lets loose a punch so hard it caused Sonic to fly off into the forest. He smacked hard into a tree. Tails and Knuckles are absolutely shocked and terrified. Anyway, they decide to buy time until Sonic wakes.

Shadow caught wind of the Chaos Emerald being in the surrounding area. He went to the scene as fast as possible. Once he arrived, he saw Tails on the ground unconscious. Sonic and Knuckles were panting. He then focused ahead of them to spot Maria. He could obviously tell that something was off about this scene, so he waited in the backfield for a bit. Sonic and Knuckles ran out of options at this point. They turned to the Chaos Emeralds as their final hope. The ring of emeralds formed around their heads as they harnessed the emeralds' power. Sonic and Knuckles underwent their transformations to get their ultimate powers. Both Super Sonic and Super Knuckles were standing side by side. They have their arms sticking out, and Shadow knew what was coming. Before the Chaos Emeralds dissolved completely, Shadow jumped into action. He went Super Shadow, but was a little bit too late. Super Sonic and Super Knuckles got their beams off at the right time, but Robotnik's Maria android had a trick up her sleeve. It shot out a huge laser from its mouth. The lights collided and the yellow team coming from the superheroes was gaining ground. Super Shadow came out of nowhere and used a Chaos Blast as hard as his super form would allow. Super Sonic and Super Knuckles were caught off guard. Knuckles flew off into the west. His super abilities were gone. Super Sonic on the other hand cried out in pain as the laser from the android took him over. The Chaos Emeralds were knocked out of him. He fell to the ground. Right after this happened, Tails came to. The last thing he saw was Super Shadow gathering the Chaos Emeralds and beating on something else. He wasted no time in taking Sonic to a safer place.

Super Shadow walked towards Robotnik's lair with the Maria android in his right hand. He dropped in and wasted no time in destroying this place. He released a devastating Chaos Blast. It took out the whole lair. It looked like a demolition zone. The place was completely abolished. Robotnik's body lied under all the ruin. His robots went to work on automatically rebuilding the place to the best of their ability while trying to keep Robotnik alive throughout the whole process. _**That is how we arrived to the present day…**_

Sonic called Tails outside to show him a weird robot. It has a message in binary code which Tails deciphers on the spot.

"Robotnik is dead," Tails says.

"No way," Sonic replies. He has conflicting emotions about the news. On one hand he's happy because Robotnik did nothing but cause him trouble. On the other hand, things would get real boring around here with no robots to battle or world to save if Robotnik caused to no trouble. He felt bad for his fallen rival.

"That's such a shame," Knuckles remarks. "I just have one question. What's going to happen with his lair?"

"We should go find out," Sonic suggests.

"Should we tell the others we're going," Tails asks.

"Nah, we are just going take a look around Robotnik's place," Sonic answers. "It won't be bad. To the forest!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles ran side by side to Robotnik's Lair. Upon exiting the forest, they see Shadow and Cosmo of course.

"I see you guys got the news too," Sonic says sarcastically.

"You three," Shadow remembers. "You three used Tikal to get info out of us. I planned to come after you guys once we went through this place and made it our own, but I guess we can settle all this right now."

"Yes we can," Tails replies.

"I'll make sure you never touch another piece of the Master Emerald again," Knuckles yells.

"But two to three isn't fair," Shadow says. "I'll have to bring out my weapon."

Shadow makes a hand signal to his right. Everyone turns their head and is shocked at who they see.

"She looks familiar doesn't she," Shadow says then laughs manically.

"It's the Maria android," Knuckles points out. "That thing brings back some horrid memories."

"Let's get this show on the road," Shadow screams. "Cosmo, you sit this one out. I don't need you getting hurt again."

Shadow charges forward with his robot right behind him. Cosmo doesn't do a thing. She stands there motionless. The only person Tails really feels like taking another crack at is Cosmo so he sits waiting for her to intervene if she does. Cosmo is sort of like the same thing. She's in reserve in case Tails tries to jump in. The first thing to actually attack is the robot which shoots a green laser at Knuckles knocking him out. Shadow laughs like he's crazy.

"Well that was unfortunate," Tails says as he jumps up. "That laser sent him to a deep sleep."

"Looks like it's just you and me this time buddy," Sonic says. "Let's show them what we are made of."

"No Sonic, I have to tell you something first," Tails orders. "As you may already know, I worked with Robotnik a few times when we had no other options. He always leaves a switch on his robots somewhere to self-destruct them. We need to find that switch."

"I got it," Sonic says. "Where do you think it is?"

"I don't know," Tails replies. "We probably have to look on a spot of her body that would be able to conceal something. I'll handle Shadow while you use your tornado to lift the clothes off. I got a laser on my watch so I can hit the switch myself."

"Sounds like a plan," Sonic reassures him.

Tails propels himself with his tails towards Shadow. Shadow rushes in too. He's the first to try to get an attack in which Tails easily avoids. He kicks Shadow's legs from under him in an attempt to make him fall, but Shadow does a backflip to regain his balance. Tails follows up with a barrage of punches. Shadow blocks all these then kicks Tails in the face. This quickly makes Tails get the eye of the tiger as one might say. He rushes Shadow with no regards of defense mixing in kicks and punches that are very fast and caught Shadow off guard. All Shadow can do is roll with the punches as Tails continues. The last attack that comes out is a tail whip, one that's so strong that Shadow flies into the entrance of Robotnik's lair. The doors are solid metal so they didn't open, but and indent was left on the door. All this while Sonic has used the tornado on the android all ready, got it naked, and found the obvious switch on her back. He presses it and runs back. Tails jumps back too as Shadow tries to get back on his own two feet. The robot speaks a countdown starting from ten to one then it explodes. Sonic and Tails are celebrating as if a job was well done, but Shadow ran to the remains of the robot. He gets down on his knees in an act of sadness.

"What's wrong with you," Sonic screams mockingly. "It was just a robot."

"It was more than just a robot," Shadow says with his voice breaking up and tears in his eyes. "It was Maria's body. You just incinerated Maria's body!"

"I sort of actually fail to see the problem here," Sonic remarks. "It was a robot, not Maria."

"You don't understand," Shadow explains. "Remember when I came around you guys sometime last month and asked if you had saw Maria? Well that day I did, in Robotnik's laboratory. She was dead floating in a glass dome lit up with hundreds of lights. That day, I took off on a month long journey to find all Chaos Emeralds, but I didn't see one at all. You guys had all of them. I saw that with my own eyes while you guys were fighting what the doctor made out of her. It made me angrier than I could ever be. But then I remembered something, there was a way to revive her which is why I interrupted your fight and took the android myself. I actually had Maria's body. Now you idiots have ruined everything I was working towards."

"Oh wow," Tails says. "I think we should go."

"I'm not in the condition to fight anymore, but I promise the next time we meet you guys are dead," Shadow says menacingly.

"Wait, you were collecting the pieces of the Master Emerald to revive Maria," Sonic asks. "What is wrong with you? Tails has been working on a time machine and he was almost done with it. If you would have waited and came ask us for help we would have helped you."

"Uh actually before I accidentally blew up the Master Emerald, my plans for the time machine were stolen," Tails explains. "They were pretty advanced and if I had a few more weeks to work on it I probably could have made a good prototype."

"I know about the stupid time machine already." Shadow replies. "Cosmo told me she had been making plans like that her own and got really far. They looked pretty good. I helped her out because she promised me that if I got the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds for her she would complete the time machine and let me use it."

"Wait a second," Knuckles says as he gets on his feet and yawns. "Silver came from the future and told us that Cosmo betrays Shadow and take over the world right by getting Tails back on her side right?"

"What," Tails screams in disbelief. "Where was I when this was said?"

"Tikal was healing you after Cosmo kicked your butt," Knuckles tells him. "Silver came and told us that and wanted us to fix it."

"No way," Tails exclaims. "Shadow, you must trust us and join our side. Cosmo is a liar."

"And why should I believe anything you idiots tell me," Shadow questions them. "Believe it or not, I'm not helping Cosmo just because of Maria, I actually like her because all she's been doing for me as of late."

"Aw man," Sonic says. "We talked to Silver, you know, Silver, the dude that can travel through time. He told us the deal. We believe him since we are now good friends. Trust us; we would never lie to you. We actually don't care what you do. We just want to help you out."

Shadow stands around without saying a word. "I'll need some time before I can make a sound decision. I'll be leaving for the time being." He Chaos Controls away actually leaving Cosmo there.

"Sweet vindication," Knuckles exclaims. "Let's grab Cosmo."

"Nah," Sonic says. "She's useless to us. We should just leave her here. Without Shadow she's nothing anyway."

"Wait, we are not done here," Tails orders. "Why did you steal my time machine plans?"

"Isn't it obvious by now," she remarks. "Shadow will never take your side anyway. I got something on him that you guys don't and I know where he went so I'll go _convince _him to take my side and my plans will continue."

"So Silver was right," Sonic says. "Either way, your plans can't go anywhere unless you get Tails back and that's never going to happen."

"I just thought about that," Knuckles says. "As long as you stay away from Cosmo then the timeline will change in our favor since she's nothing alone."

"Oh yeah," Tails remembers. "Let's go anyway. After Shadow makes up his mind I will get to work on another time machine. Until then I guess we should take a break from emerald hunting."

"Sounds like a good idea," Sonic agrees.


	9. Abusive Relatioship

**Chapter 9: Abusive Relationship**

"Hey, guess what," Sonic says as enters the workshop. "Robotnik died."

"No way," Amy replies. "That's both good and bad."

"Same thing I thought," Sonic says. "It's the end of an era."

"Forget about that for now," Tails explains. "We have more important matters right now. We need to wait on Shadow's decision before we go looking for more pieces of the Master Emerald. Sonic told him about what Silver said and he considered our side. Until he chooses, we must leave the pieces of the Master Emerald alone so he doesn't think we are betraying him."

"But the Chaos Emerald hunt is still on, right," Sonic asks.

"I guess so," Knuckles says. "Shadow hasn't been actively looking for those so I guess you can go for it."

"Sweet," Sonic exclaims. "You feel like going, Amy?"

"Of course I do," she replies happily. They both walk out the door after waving goodbye.

"So we have some time to ourselves," Knuckles say to Tails. "I'm going to go look at the Master Emerald Shrine."

"Can I come with you," Rouge asks. "I have nothing else better to do today."

"I guess so," Knuckles allows. "We'll be off. Let us know if Shadow shows up." They walk out the door as well.

"I guess I can take this time to start up new plans for the time machine," Tails suggest. "But wait, I forgot that whenever I had the chance I promised Tikal that I would do something with her. I forgot what that something was. And also, while we are on this subject, where is that girl? Ah well, I guess she will turn up eventually."

Tails takes a walk to his upstairs laboratory. Upon entering, he takes a walk all the way to the back area where a round table and very big chair sits. He takes a seat, pulls out some paper, and begins making plans for his machine. After a few minutes of working, he walks towards a bookshelf in the corner of the room. He pulls out a specific book and looks through the hole he made in the shelf to the window. Eventually he walks around the shelf and takes look outside. Today is very beautiful day. The sky is cloudless. There's a gentle breeze which shakes the leaves in the lone tree in Tails' backyard. Of course he doesn't feel like going outside, but one thing does change his mind. He sees Tikal out here. She's standing on top of the hill which the lone tree sits on top of. The wind is making the green grass sway and fro and also Tikal's skirt. This makes Tails change his mind dramatically. He puts the plans he came up with so far in a safe, grabs his house key, and runs outside towards his backyard. Once he gets there, he walks to the side of Tikal.

"You heard the news, right," Tails says. "We got a free day today so everyone is off doing something."

"Oh really," Tikal says as turns and looks at Tails. "That's very nice. You know, I was thinking…"

"Thinking what," Tails asks.

"Well, since you have this free day, I was wondering if," Tikal says.

"Yes," Tails says as he quickly cuts Tikal off. "Uh, I mean if you want to."

"I wouldn't want to keep you away from something more important," Tikal says.

"Don't worry, I have nothing to do," Tails replies as he laughs. "If it's ok with you I'd like to take you somewhere."

"That would be lovely," Tikal agrees with a smile.

"Alright," Tails says as he picks up Tikal.

"You are pretty strong," she says surprised.

"Well, you are light and easy to carry," Tails explains. "I'll carry you to a place I finished working on a few weeks ago. It's a building I made on the beach that's main purpose is supposed to serve as a recreational place. It will be pretty fun."

Before Tails can even take his first step, something starts to rise from under the hill. It's more like someone, as Cosmo's head is now visible. Tails is now kicking himself in his mind for not acting earlier instead of working on his plans first.

"Cosmo," Tails screams as he puts Tikal down. "What do you want now?" He prepares himself for a fight.

"I didn't come here to fight," Cosmo says.

"Then what now," Tails says. "If you didn't come here for a fight then why are you here?"

"I actually came to apologize," Cosmo says while producing fake tears. "I'm sorry for everything I've done since I left you."

Tails obviously doesn't give a damn as he kicks Cosmo off of him into the tree.

"Sonic gave me the heads-up on the prophecy," Tails explains. "I know you want to use me just for your plans to revive whatever and take over the world. That will not happen."

Cosmo gets up and doesn't try to attack Tails. "But don't you even miss me or still love me at all," she asks sincerely.

Tails actually hesitates for a bit. "Uh, no!" he says.

"But why not," Cosmo asks. "Is there someone else who has stolen your heart now?"

Without even thinking about his choice of words, he says a very stupid thing. "Yes there is. I like Tikal now," he replies without a second thought while blushing throughout the whole ordeal. Tikal just stands behind him looking a bit shocked.

"The Master Emerald girl," Cosmo asks. "Don't you realize that once the Master Emerald is complete she'll have to go back inside it? What will you do then?"

"I have no idea," Tails remarks seriously. "But what I do know is that I will try my hardest to spend as much time as I can with her whenever I have nothing to do. I'll create as many memories as possible while she is still on this planet. That also reminds me, I was just about to do that right now! Leave before I get angry."

"Oh yeah, well I see what the obstacle is now," Cosmo remarks. "Remember, I'll be watching you." She teleports away after that. Tails is actually nervous to turn around and say something to Tikal. Without showing her his face, he begins to speak.

"Uh you see, I'm sorry I had to say that, but I figured it would be the most expedient path to get Cosmo to leave us alone," Tails says nervously. "If you still don't want me to take you to the beach I understand."

"The thing about what you just told Cosmo is ok," Tikal says as she grabs Tails' hand. "I like you too, Tails."

"Really," Tails says as his voice cracks up. "I mean, I'll protect you in case Cosmo tries to ruin our evening."

"Ok," Tikal replies.

Now onto Sonic and Amy, they are running along the direction of Tails' backyard. A Chaos Emerald is in the vicinity. Amy is on Sonic's shoulders like normal and she's looking at the tracker directing Sonic. Cosmo appears in front of Sonic's path so he screeches to a halt. Amy flies off of his shoulders because she wasn't paying attentions and lands face first into the grass.

"What are you doing here," Sonic says. "I'm not letting you get anywhere near Tails' workshop."

"I have already been there," Cosmo says.

Amy jumps up and dusts herself off. "What did you do," she asks.

"Nothing, well, I tried to do something but failed," Cosmo says. "Tikal is the enemy."

"What," Sonic says. "She's completely harmless."

"Physically she is," Cosmo explains. "But mentally she's not."

"What's that supposed to mean," Amy asks.

"Go see for yourselves," Cosmo says as she walks away.

Sonic and Amy slowly walks up the hill. They both get down on the grass and then take a peek over it. They see Tails and Tikal holding hands.

"Aw, isn't that sweet, Sonic," Amy says.

"So that's why Cosmo called Tikal the enemy," Sonic remembers. "If Tails likes Tikal then Cosmo can't get Tails back on her side. Both parts of the prophecy might not be fulfilled if Shadow agrees to take our side and nothing happens to Tikal. I just hope that Tails does his best to make sure nothing happens."

"Check it out," Amy says. "Tails is carrying Tikal somewhere. I bet they are going someplace romantic."

"I don't know about you, but I think we should change plans and help Tails out for the day," Sonic says. "We need to make sure that Tails and Tikal stay uninterrupted. We should tail them and knock off anything Cosmo tries to do before she gets anywhere near them. It will better our chances at changing the future for good."

"Ok, I'll help you," Amy accepts. "One problem though, I want something in return."

"We'll work that out later," Sonic says. "You forgot that Tails is almost as fast as me. They are starting to get out of sight. Hop on my back and let's go."


	10. Countdown to Doomsday

**Chapter 10: Countdown to Doomsday **

Shadow went to the old house that Maria and he used to live in. It's pretty much how Shadow expected it to be, destroyed. Once Maria was killed he never returned. In the empty lot of the house's foundation is where Shadow sits. Of course, he really doesn't like Cosmo. He's just using her and the feeling is obviously mutual, but anyway he still goes on with deep thoughts in his head. On one hand, Cosmo shares the same goals as him. On the other hand, he's obviously just being used. If he joins forces with Sonic and the others, he will most definitely end up achieving his goal. The only thing he fears is that they might try to get into it. He wants to do this alone without any help which is what Cosmo promised him when they discussed it in the past. Either way, it won't end well. His choice is still uncertain. He can't stand the fact of being around the others.

"I wonder," Shadow says as he lies on the ground. "What would Maria want me to do?"

It's the only question that matters to him now. He stares on at the empty daytime sky. While going through his past memories, he remembers a key thing that Maria once told him. He was created for the good of mankind. His purpose is to help people, not to destroy them. With this in mind his path is still uncertain, but the only way to prevent Maria's death is to go back in time and kill Robotnik.

"I see," Shadow says. "Maria doesn't want me to hurt anybody, but I must kill her family to save her life. I know who I must join now," He jumps up and takes off.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Amy have been chasing after Tails and Tikal for a few minutes. They are currently running through the large, green hills of the planet's countryside. Amy slaps Sonic on the head and orders him to look up. He sees a biplane approaching.

"Amy," Sonic says. "I'm throwing you up there. You can handle Cosmo, right?"

"Of course," Amy says.

Sonic comes to a halt. Amy jumps off of his shoulders. He grabs one of her arms then charges up a spin dash. He releases it while letting her go. Sonic stays in pursuit of Tails and Tikal while Amy lands perfectly on the left wing of the biplane. Cosmo is obviously flying this thing. She's so focused on the ground that she doesn't even notice Amy on the wing. She slowly approaches the cockpit and ducks her head every now and then to stay out of Cosmo's sight when she turns her head. Amy smashes the cockpit open with her hammer. Cosmo enables autopilot. She backflips out of the seat and lands on the right wing.

"I see," Cosmo says. "You won't let me interfere with Tails and Tikal."

"Correct," Amy replies. "So how's about you jump off of this plane right now and let me take it from here?"

"Nah," Cosmo answers. "I'm not letting you get in my way."

She jumps over the cockpit and runs straight for Amy. Amy uses the hammer to block an attack from Cosmo. Cosmo follows up with a kick to the head that Amy dodges by ducking under it. She uses her hammer and hits Cosmo in the face thus sending her off the plane. She screams to Sonic to use his rocket shoes in order to get up here and pilot it which he does. Remembering that Cosmo can fly, Amy takes a leap of fate off the wing of the jet. She streamlines her body to fall faster so she can catch up to Cosmo. Once she does, she knocks Cosmo down once again to send her flying faster. Amy creates an air current by spinning her hammer rapidly. She creates a small tornado which aids in slowing down her decent and also captures Cosmo. Amy is now on the ground waiting for the tornado to cease and for Cosmo to come down. Once she does, Amy uses a powerful swing of her hammer and sends Cosmo flying into the distance. Sonic jumps out of the plane and Amy catches him.

"You sent Cosmo in the wrong direction," Sonic says. "You sent Cosmo into Tails and Tikal's path."

"What," Amy screams.

"Cosmo actually waved with a smile on her face while she flew off towards the beach," Sonic explains. "She was just toying with you."

"Oooh," Amy growls. "Sonic, give me your shoes."

"What, no way," Sonic exclaims.

Amy takes them off of him anyway. She gives Sonic her boots, takes Sonic's shoes and runs off into the distance.

"Oh great," Sonic says sarcastically. "She forgot that I can use Chaos Control. I'll go look for Shadow I guess, but first I must stop by the workshop."

Amy is running at speeds past the sound barrier as she lets her rage cloud her judgment. She passes Tails and Tikal and they don't even notice. At the end of the last hill comes a small forest. Amy takes a jump at highest part of the hill. At the apex of her jump, she twirls her hammer like a baton and it carries her forward. The sun is beginning to set. The warm colors from the orange sun meeting with the sea at the horizon are a sight to behold. The coastline of this place extends as far as the eye can see. From her vantage point, Amy scans the ground for some sort of clue and she finds it. A depression is made in the sand on the left and now she begins her descent. Once she lands, she sees no Cosmo.

"You," Cosmo says as she jumps down from out of a tree. "Get away, now!"

"I can't let you do that Cosmo," Amy says. "I'll make you leave before Tails and Tikal even get here. You are not ruining this day."

"You do know that I was just messing with you," Cosmo remarks. "I'm comparable to Shadow in strength thanks to him. This fight won't take long."

"Don't you dare underestimate me," Amy screams.

Cosmo's first attack is Chaos Spear. Amy thinks to herself: _how can she use Chaos Spear?_ Anyway, she waves her hammer to deflect it. Cosmo then moves so fast that Amy's sight just can't keep up. She kicks her in the back of the head sending Amy into one of the rock formations jutting from the wall near the coast. Cosmo is coming, but Amy can't see a thing. She then remembers something: _If I'm using Sonic's shoes then I should have the same speed as him, right? What am I'm forgetting?_ She then looks down. She forgot to buckle the shoes! Once she does so, Cosmo becomes visible. Because Cosmo thinks she's invisible to Amy, she's blindly charging without any care for safety. As Cosmo approaches the rock, Amy jumps off of it. She falls right behind Cosmo. Cosmo turns around and sees nothing but Amy's hammer as she is knocked into the rock. Amy follows with another hammer swing, this time knocking Cosmo through the rock. Cosmo and Amy are flying in front of Tails and Tikal's face and neither of them knows it. Tails and Tikal are just watching the whole thing. Cosmo regains her focus in midair.

"Chaos Spear," she shouts. Amy reflects these once more thus hitting Cosmo with the attack. Cosmo flies into a tree. All of sudden, out of nowhere Shadow comes. He uses his own version of Chaos Control, disappears, and then reappears in Amy's face. He punches the stuffing out of her, sending her into the ocean. He then flies towards Cosmo and proceeds to kick her so hard that he knocks her key ring out of her which is exactly what he wanted. Shadow pulls out a Chaos Emerald he found.

"Chaos Control," he yells. He runs towards Tikal and grabs her before Tails could even blink. He then disappears into the sunset. Sonic arrives on the scene. The first thing he notices is Tails carrying an unconscious Amy to shore. The second thing he notices is Cosmo to his right. She's knocked out cold too. The last thing he notices is no Tikal. The first thing he does is taking Tails and Amy and uses Chaos Control to get them to the workshop. Next thing he completes is calling in Knuckles and Rouge to come back, but they can't be reached.

"You got to tell me everything," Sonic demands. "Who did this to Amy?"

"Amy and Cosmo were in the middle of battle," Tails explains to the best of his ability. "Amy had the obvious upper hand once Tikal and I arrived at the beach. I think Amy was about finish the fight, and then Shadow came out of nowhere. He punched Amy so hard that she skipped over the water like a flat rock at the lake. He then kicked Cosmo so hard that she dropped her key ring. For his last act, he used Chaos Control and, and, he took Tikal!"

Tails starts to cry for a bit. Sonic holds him.

"I understand," Sonic says sincerely. "Before we go rescue Tikal and kick Shadow's butt, I need to teach you Chaos Control first."

"What? Is that possible," Tails asks in disbelief.

Knuckles comes running through the door. He tosses Sonic a yellow Chaos Emerald.

"That idiot Shadow came and took Rouge," Knuckles screams. "He's asking for a knuckle sandwich."

"No time for your dumb puns," Sonic says. "We need to get serious. I need your help to teach Tails Chaos Control before we go."

"But Tails can't use the Chaos Emeralds," Knuckles says.

"You're right," Sonic explains. "But in conjunction with the super emeralds he can."

"So you are saying that he needs a Super Emerald and a Chaos Emerald," Knuckles asks. "Where are the Super Emeralds?"

Tails slaps himself on the head. "I thought those things were useless," he replies. "I keep them in the lab upstairs." He runs to his base and grabs the blue Super Emerald. He shows it to Sonic.

"These are a little bigger than I remembered," he says. "Ok Tails, in order to use the Chaos Emeralds you need to have intentions either good or bad. You must be using it for a purpose. If you have a desire to use it that's very strong then the Chaos Emerald will regulate energy flow based on how important your desire is. All you need to do is carry the emeralds somewhere on your person. I don't understand why Shadow pulls his out whenever he's about to use it. It makes no sense. Yell Chaos Control and it should work."

"It's that simple," Tails asks. He takes the Chaos Emerald and puts it in one pocket. He takes the Super Emerald and puts it in another pocket. He yells Chaos Control and disappears. Sonic and Knuckles runs outside and finds him out here.

"It worked," Tails exclaims. "Yes!"

"Ok, now we are ready," Knuckles says.

"But what about Amy," Sonic says. "We can't just leave her here. That's another thing he could use against us."

"Wait, wait," Amy says faintly. "I'm awake and I feel f-f-fine."

"No you are not," Sonic says. "You can barely stand. Darn it. Guys, I'll stay behind. Once Amy is feeling better I'll come meet you guys."

"Got it," Knuckles says.

Sonic picks up Amy and carries her into the workshop. He locks the door and enables all security features possible. Gently, he lays her down on the couch.

"Is there anything you need right now," Sonic asks.

"Uhh, get on this sofa with me and become my snuggle buddy," Amy demands.

"Anything else besides that," Sonic asks nervously. "I hate when you cling on to me."

"Just do it for me this one time," Amy asks. "I promise it will make me feel better."

"Ok, but just this one time," Sonic agrees. "Don't ever ask me again."

Tails and Knuckles are outside. They see the workshop become enclosed in metal. Tails grabs Knuckles and they fly to the top. On the roof, they come across a keypad. Tails enters a secret code. The roof parts open to reveal a helicopter. Tails and Knuckles hop inside it. They take off. The radar is equipped with a Chaos Emerald tracker. It's leading them to Tails' air base, but that's an hour long flight.

"Are we there yet," Knuckles asks.

"We just left the landing pad," Tails answers with a look of disappointment. "Go play with the Wii in the back or something."

The sky is now completely dark. It's a full moon out tonight, and it's shining as brightly as possible. Stars are everywhere across the sky. Tails is taking a nap in the captain chair with his feet cocked up on the control panel. Knuckles did what Tails told him to so he's in the back messing around with Wii Sports. An alarm sounds that knocks Tails out of his slumber. He falls on the floor. Knuckles comes running in. They look through the window and sees Tails' aerial fortress. It's pretty huge and comparable to something Robotnik would make in size. It's shaped like a huge blimp. Its primary color is blue with the stripes going around it being yellow. The light of the full moon is reflecting off of it. Tails goes full speed ahead to the entrance area which is located near the bottom of the blimp. He lands the helicopter on the runway of the blimp. Knuckles and he jumps out.

"Tails, this thing is freaking huge," Knuckles says with his eyes wide open. "How does something like this stay afloat?"

"No time for all these questions," Tails says. "We don't have much time. Shadow must know we are here already. He must be in the captain quarters. This vessel was built to block out all powers of the Chaos Emerald so we can't use Chaos Control. We must explore the place and get all the way to the top."

"Why would you make it like that, you idiot," Knuckles screams.

"Chill, only the walls block Chaos Emerald power," Tails says. "Once we get inside we are good. There are five floors. Just follow me and we'll get to the top in no time."

Tails and Knuckles runs up the landing strip. Once they get to the end they come across some stairs. Once going up these stairs they come across two more sets, one to the right and one to the left. The right stairs are stairs that will take them to the first floor. The left stairs are spiral stairs that will take them all the way to the top. Tails runs up these with Knuckles behind him. Before even getting to the third floor, Knuckles is already tired. He takes a seat on one of the stairs.

"I need some water now," Knuckles asks.

"Man you are like deadweight," Tails says. He picks up Knuckles and proceeds to fly the rest. Tails lets him down once they reach the top of the staircase. Knuckles punches the door in. Shadow slowly turns around in the captain's chair. On his lap is Tikal. He has a gun to her head.

"Shadow, why," Tails says. "We said we would help you."

"I understand now," Shadow explains. "From now on, I'll help myself. I demand you build me a time machine and hand over any emeralds you have."

Tails pulls out a piece of the Master Emerald. He claps his hands together and says some kind of weird incantation. The piece flows around Shadow's head. It spins rapidly and starts to descend. A green barrier is created around Tikal. She floats out of Shadow's grasp and into Tails hands. Knuckles is shocked, Shadow is shocked too, while Tikal is speechless. He puts her down. He reaches in his pocket and takes out both emeralds.

"You guys go get Rouge," Tails orders calmly. "Shadow is mine."

Knuckles runs out the door with Tikal right behind him. Shadow is now ready to go so he charges at Tails. Tails stands there with a smirk on his face.

"Super, Chaos, Control," Tails screams. He disappears in a flash. Shadow uses his own Chaos Control, but even while still doing this Tails looks like a lightning bolt. Tails wails on him in every way imaginable. Punches and kicks are flying everywhere that Shadow just can't keep track of. His last hit to this combo is a tail swipe to the head. It sends Shadow through the window and out into the sky. His air shoes kicks in and he floats while holding his face. His white glove shows blood from his forehead. Tails continues his assault. He spins his tails rapidly in Shadow's face creating mini razor blades which chop away at Shadow's complexion. Shadow is getting weak due to loss of blood. He can barely keep his eyes open. Tails grabs him by the neck.

"If you ever do such a thing again I will make sure that you will never be able to revive Maria," Tails shouts. He tightens his grip on Shadow's neck. Shadow starts to gasp for air.

"Never will I lose to someone as pitiful as you," Shadow says weakly. "Chaos Blast!" A huge explosion the size of Tails' base is what he releases. This took all he had left. Tails lets him go, but once the smoke clears Shadow can see that he did nothing to harm Tails' person.

"Too slow," Tails says as he proceeds to knock Shadow into the ocean. Tails slowly flies away back to his workshop.

Once he gets there he finds Knuckles, Rouge, and Tikal sitting at the table.

"Job well done," Tails remarks. He takes out the two emeralds then puts them on the table. "I think that it's nap time now," he says as he collapses. Knuckles laughs then carries him up to his room. Tikal follows quickly. Knuckles comes back downstairs.

"You know, I wonder," Knuckles asks. "Did Tails ever tell Tikal how important she is to Silver's prophecy?"

"Nope," Rouge says. "He really doesn't need to. Everything is going along smoothly."

After a half hour, Tails wakes up in his bed. He looks to his left and sees nothing. He looks to his right and sees Tikal. He thinks he's dreaming so he wipes his eyes then look again.

"So I'm not dreaming," Tails says. "Are you ok?"

"Tails, I just wanted to say thank you for all you did for me today," Tikal says as she grabs his hand. "I feel bad for causing you all this trouble."

"Don't feel bad," Tails says. "Don't worry about it. You are safe and that's all that matters."

"Thank you so much," Tikal says. "If you need anything I'll get it for you."

"A glass of water would be nice," Tails says.

As Tikal walks out the door, Tails celebrates.

"I can't believe how awesome I was," he says. "And maybe, just maybe, I think I won Tikal's heart. Man today was a good day."

"So you won Tikal's heart, eh," Sonic says insinuatingly.

"Uh, I mean," Tails says. He's so embarrassed and at a loss of words.

"So, how did it go," Sonic asks. "Amy kept me here all night asking me to stuff for her. It was driving me crazy."

"I kicked Shadow's butt," Tails says. "Mission accomplished."

"Good to hear," Sonic says. "So maybe tomorrow might finally be our real day off, huh?"

"Yeah, tomorrow will be it," Tails replies. Sonic walks out the room and Tails rests his head on his pillow.


	11. The Second Master Emerald Regulator

**Chapter 11: The Second Master Emerald Regulator **

The designated free day begins as Sonic jumps to his feet and runs outside. The sun is already out, so he decides to relax until everyone else awakes. He jumps to the top of the house and sunbathes up there. That planned backfired horribly due to Tails' metal roof. He jumps off it while screaming. He runs around like crazy to let the wind cool him off. After that, he decides to sit under the lone tree instead. Knuckles is the first person to meet him outside.

"Today is going to be a long day," Knuckles says as he takes a seat next to Sonic. "I say we bail and go do some crazy stuff instead of waste it here with the girls like we are destined to do."

"Like what," Sonic asks.

"We need to raid Robotnik's base," Knuckles suggests. "There must be some really cool stuff in there."

"No point in going there without Tails since that place is locked up tight and only he could probably get us in," Sonic says. "We are done for man."

"Why? We can just get him to come with us," Knuckles says.

"Yeah but with him and the whole Tikal business, he's locked for the day," Sonic replies.

"What? Tails likes Tikal? No way," Knuckles says.

"He told me he did," Sonic says. "Anyway, let's go in the house and play some Wii and wait for the inevitable."

Once Sonic and Knuckles enters the house, they find Amy and Rouge to be awake. Sonic takes a seat in a chair around the table. Knuckles does the same.

"Dude, we must bail," Knuckles says. "For the good of mankind."

"Ok, ok," Sonic says. "We'll leave Tails behind. Chaos Control!"

Sonic and Knuckles disappears with a flash.

"Eh, today is free day," Amy says. "Everyone can do whatever they want."

"That reminds me, what's the deal with Tails and Tikal," Rouge asks. "I haven't seen them all morning."

In the backyard is where Tails and Tikal are. They are standing in Tails' open field.

"You know, you using my spell to rescue me last night made me completely surprised," Tikal says.

"Ah well, you know," Tails says as he laughs.

"Since you seem capable I would like to bestow a major responsibility on you," Tikal says.

"No matter what it is I'll do it for you," Tails replies.

"I want to make you the second in command over the Master Emerald's power," Tikal explains. "Don't worry, the process is very easy."

"I can do it no problem," Tails says. "What I have to do?"

"Well, first there's an incantation but don't worry about that since I have to do it. Next is the transference of powers from me to you," she says. "It's done by a kiss."

"What," Tails exclaims. "I mean uh it won't be a problem at all."

Sonic and Knuckles are sitting in the lone tree outside this time. Knuckles spots Tails in the distance.

"Hey, check it out," Knuckles says. "It's Tails. Let's get him so we can go."

"No, dummy," Sonic says. "He's with Tikal so let's leave him alone."

"Ok," Knuckles says. "I don't understand how you sit in trees and on roofs and such. This is killing my back. Is it just me or is Tikal glowing?"

A Master Emerald is floating over her head and is spinning rapidly. It blinks then stops.

"Well, that was a lame light show," Sonic says.

"Wait, man, wait, Tikal is getting closer to Tails. I smell something interesting. Give me your watch," Knuckles orders. "My crappy one can't record video but yours can. Tails keeps playing favorites."

Knuckles starts to record and uses the zoom feature to get a better look. "Dude, Tikal is going in for a kiss. Tails looks super nervous," he remarks.

"Knuckles, he's eight and never kissed anyone before," Sonic says. "Why wouldn't he be nervous?"

"Eight is pretty darn old for a fox," Knuckles says. "Ah well, red flag. Amy came outside and messed up everything."

Amy comes out side and steals Tikal away instantly leaving Tails feeling relieved. Sonic and Knuckles jumps out of their tree.

"Haha, you almost choked man," Knuckles says as he laughs.

"Shut up," Sonic shouts. "Tails, want to come with us and raid Robotnik's base?"

"Let's think about that statement," Tails says seriously. "Raiding Robotnik's base will not result in a good free day. First of all, Shadow and Cosmo showed interest in it too. Second of all, who knows what Robotnik has running through that place? Finally, it's the most obvious plot device in the world."

"Who cares? It will be fun," Sonic says. "You and your lame obvious fourth-wall breaking self."

"Sonic, I have to decline," Tails rejects. "I'm sorry, but I have things to do today and going through Robotnik's stuff can wait until tomorrow."

"Man this chapter will be a real doozer," Knuckles says. "Cue Tails' quest to get that kiss. Let's go Sonic."

"Alright Tails, we'll see you later," Sonic says as he takes off with Knuckles behind him.

Tails takes off into the air and flies towards the roof of his house. He inputs his code thus opening his roof and he enters his lab. Tails grabs a tablet and walks straight to the back of the room where his huge table is located. He takes a seat in his big chair, pulls out a pencil, and begins drawing plans for something. About thirty minutes into his planning his head meets his desk and he ends up sleeping. A few minutes after that, he hears the password system from his door to the lab that wakes him up. The door swings open so he acts like he was doing something once someone enters. Because of where Tails currently is, he can't see who came in.

"Who is it," he asks.

Amy peeks in her head around the corner. "Tails, just the person I wanted to see," she says as she pulls up a chair. "Why are you not with Sonic and Knuckles?"

"Because I got stuff to do," Tails says. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk," Amy says.

"About what," Tails asks. He kind of knows where this conversation will go already.

"I just wanted to ask about this thing you and Tikal got going on," Amy says.

"There is no thing," Tails says nervously. _Did she buy it?_

"But Tikal has said some things about you," Amy replies.

"What," Tails says anxiously.

"You know," Amy says. "For example, when Cosmo came and fake apologized you said you loved Tikal instead. Another example is that you had Sonic teach you a new ability just to rescue her. Another example is that you attempted to take her out on a date. Another example is that you memorized one of her spells in order to rescue her. Another example is that you…"

"Ok I get it," Tails interrupts. "So I guess I do like Tikal, ok? Are you happy now?"

"We also told Tikal about what Silver told us," Amy says. "We also told Tikal about you and Cosmo."

"What, why," Tails asks.

"Relax, I'm helping you out," Amy says. "Knuckles sent us the vid from outside this morning."

"I should have never made those communication watches," Tails says sarcastically.

"Tikal felt sorry for you and she already likes you so that works in your favor," Amy says. "By the way, what are those drawing on that piece of paper?"

"It's nothing," Tails says as he quickly puts it away.

"I bet it's for Tikal," Amy says.

"No it's not," Tails screams.

"Well, I'll see you later," Amy says. She walks out of the room and Tails sighs.

"What is it with Amy and romance," he says to himself. "Even though Knuckles was joking, he is right. I'm a nervous wreck, but in a good way. I'm not leaving the lab because I'm too nervous to face Tikal. She doesn't know my password so she can't get in."

Boy was he wrong. Amy purposely left the door open. Tikal comes walking in and his heart rate increases dramatically. _Going to Robotnik's base seems so good now._

"Uh, hi Tikal," Tails says. He jumps out of his chair and flies to his bookshelf and grabs a random book to make himself look busy. "Do you need anything?"

"I wanted to finish what we started," Tikal says.

Tails stops spinning his tails in midair and falls dead on his face. He stumbles to his feet.

"Ok," Tails says.

Tikal walks to the door and closes it. "This time there will be no interruptions," she says.

Tails almost faints. "Alright," he replies.

Tails hands over a piece of the Master Emerald. Tikal begins her incantation. The piece floats then spins rapidly. Tikal glows. Tails is losing it mentally. He is wishing so hard for some type of an out. While Tikal's eyes are closed Tails quickly sends Sonic a message, but he can't for his metal walls gives him no service. He looks on at his inevitable doom. Tikal slowly approaches him. He stands there actually looking pretty calm, but on the inside he's about to kill over. Tikal is actually a bit taller than him. She has to bend over to get this off. Tails closes his eyes and prepares to faint, but then he gets an out.

"Tails, come in Tails," Sonic says through the watch. "We need your help."

"Aw," Tikal says. "Well I guess it can wait until you get back."

"Ok," Tails says happily. He takes off out of the room through the door and runs downstairs. Amy and Rouge runs upstairs.

"Mission accomplished," Amy asks.

"Nope," Tikal says. "For some reason, I think he's actually trying to avoid it."

"Tails is nervous," Rouge says. "He doesn't realize what this really for. Instead, he sees it as his first real kiss, which it sort of is but it serves a different purpose too."

"I'm actually a little nervous as well since I'm taking this a bit more seriously than I should," Tikal explains.

"Well, you need to catch him off guard," Amy says. "I have an idea."

Tails is running through his backyard. He passes by the one tree and then a rock hits him on the back of the head.

"Hey," Knuckles says from one of the tree branches. "Get up here."

Tails flies up there. Both Sonic and Knuckles are here.

"What happened with the Robotnik lab stuff," he asks.

"We just remembered that we can't get in without you," Sonic says. "Anyway, what was that message about? It was all jumbled up so I couldn't read it."

"Don't worry about it," Tails says. He takes a seat on a branch. "I just need to get away from Tikal."

"Oh yeah, you chickened out," Knuckles says. "You do know that this tree gives us a straight shot to your window, right?"

"Well, I need advice," Tails says.

"I can't give you advice," Sonic says. "I'm just like you, although Amy has never tried to do anything. All she does is just hug me like crazy."

"I would but I won't," Knuckles says. "Good luck man. Wait, that brings up another question. In order for you to be this freaked out, you never kissed Cosmo either."

"Yes," Tails says.

"Wow, she like lived in your workshop with you," Knuckles explains to make Tails mad. "You guys worked on experiments together and stuff and you mean to tell me you never done anything?"

"Shut up," Sonic says. "Look Tails, it will happen eventually. You might as well go back in your workshop and just take it before it happens in a way you don't like. I say this because while you were running towards us, Amy and Rouge entered your lab. They are plotting something. Besides, it can't be that bad anyway. I mean, you do love her right?"

"I can't disagree with that logic," Tails says. "Thanks. I feel so much better now."

Tails flies out of the tree and towards his lab. He enters through the ceiling. Amy and Rouge leaves the room before any type of plan could be finalized. He drops down right in front of Tikal.

"Ok, I finished helping Sonic out," Tails says.

"Just in time before the effects disperse," Tikal says with a smile. "To be honest, Tails I'm just as nervous as you are."

"Really," Tails says.

"I figure that we should get this out the way now so that it becomes more comfortable for us in the future," Tikal says.

"I understand," Tails replies. "Wait a second." He walks towards his window that faces the tree and closes it. Knuckles, who was watching the whole thing, is not impressed. Tails walks over to Tikal. Even though what Sonic said is stuck in his mind, he is still about to jump out of his body and pull himself out of there. Once he's close enough, he grabs her hands. His heart is racing faster than Sonic can run. On the outside of the lab, Knuckles jumps out of the tree. He runs towards the lab, but Sonic blocks his path.

"Leave them alone, knucklehead," Sonic says. "Why do you want to see so much anyway?"

"Because I," Knuckles stops midsentence as the lab begins to glow. Through the ceiling comes out Tails and Tikal flying into the sky. Sonic and Knuckles looks on in amazement. The mission is finally complete as Tails and Tikal are still in the process of kissing. A huge light forms around them that is almost as bright as the sun. Knuckles puts on his sunglasses while Sonic has to close his eyes. Things start to get even more complicated as every last piece of the Master Emerald congregates to the spot. The complete Master Emerald forms. It spins around Tikal and Tails' heads. It temporarily grows yellow then returns to green. The Master Emerald splits back into one-hundred pieces and they scatter once more. Tails and Tikal floats back down into the lab. Once they land, Tails collapses. Tikal carries him up to his room. Knuckles is raging.

"What the hell man," Knuckles screams as he punches into the air. "We had like thirty pieces of the Master Emerald already!"

Sonic chuckles. "Well, I guess we got to find them again! I'm proud of Tails."

"This has been the most boring and worst day of my life," Knuckles remarks. "Whatever Tikal has done to Tails better had been worth it."

"Or what," Sonic says. "Tails can kick your butt any day."

After an hour later, Tails wakes up in his bedroom again. This time when he opens his eyes and look up, he sees Tikal's face but it's coming from the right.

"Oh, hi Tikal," Tails says weakly. "What happened?"

"Everything went fine," Tikal says. "Later, I'll teach you everything I know about the Master Emerald."

"Ok," Tails says. "Wait, Tikal. About the kiss; I think we should try that again, but without the floating into the sky me passing out type stuff."

"Oh my," Tikal says with a shocked expression. She walks back to Tails' bedside and begins to lean over for a kiss but Sonic enters the room.

"Hey, Tails are you ok," Sonic asks. "Umm, uh, hi Tikal."

Tikal walks out of the room while blushing. Sonic takes a seat on Tails bed.

"What was the floating and the spinning and the lights about," Sonic asks.

"Tikal made me second in command over regulating the powers of the Master Emerald," Tails says.

"Oh, that explains it," Sonic says. "You do realize that for a while, the pieces of the Master Emerald came flying in from around the planet and the thing came together for a bit then it broke off and had spread out again, right?"

"What," Tails screams. "Oh well, it was worth it."

"Ha," Sonic remarks. "I'll get out of here now. Tomorrow, we go back to emerald hunting."

"Yep, see you tomorrow," Tails says.


	12. Grass Fleet

**Chapter 12: Grass Fleet**

"It's time for us to go our separate ways once more," Sonic says to everyone. They are standing in front of Tails' workshop preparing to depart on their emerald hunts.

"I'm still mad for what happened to the pieces of the Master Emerald," Knuckles says calmly. "We need to work harder and find more pieces."

"What did happen," Amy asks.

"Tails and Tikal did something causing the Master Emerald to temporarily come together then break off and split again," Knuckles says. "Seeing that made me pretty angry."

"Ah well, I didn't know that would happen," Tails says. "Don't worry; we'll collect all the pieces again faster than you can rap."

"Shut up," Knuckles screams. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright," Sonic says. "We are going off in search of another Chaos Emerald. We'll return after that and hopefully you guys will be back too."

Amy randomly jumps on Sonic's back. "Yah, yah, mush, mush," she screams.

"I'm not a horse," Sonic says angrily.

Sonic and Amy takes off while everyone else waves goodbye.

"Since the pieces of the Master Emerald have split up again, it might be easier for us to find them if we split up too," Knuckles suggests. "It will be quicker this way and we will cover more ground."

"I see," Rouge says. "How should we split up?"

"We take one team while Tails and Tikal are the other team," Knuckles replies.

"Got it," Tails says. "I'll be sure to fill you in if we run across anything."

"Ok, let's go," Knuckles says. Rouge and Knuckles takes off towards the south which leads to the desert. Sonic and Amy headed in the direction of the water palace to the east.

"We should go north," Tails suggests. "We never explored the mountains in a long time. There are bound to be some pieces there."

"How will we get there," Tikal asks.

"We'll take my helicopter," Tails says. He grabs Tikal and flies to his roof. He inputs his code on the keypad thus opening the roof and making the launch pad which the helicopter sits upon rise. Once it stops, Tails opens it and climbs in. Tikal takes a seat on the passenger side. Once the helicopter takes off, Tails points it in the direction of the mountains. Today is very cloudy. Tails passes over the clouds. It looks like a floor of fluff is beneath them as they cruise through the sky to the mountains in the distance. Tails puts the helicopter on autopilot.

"We have an hour long flight I'm afraid," Tails says as he puts his feet on the control panel in order to recline. "I was planning on building a jet which could travel at four times this thing's speed, but I have been pretty busy lately."

"Tails, I think it's time we should talk about the Master Emerald," Tikal says.

"Oh yeah, tell me what I need to know," Tails says.

"The Master Emerald holds control over both sets of emeralds," Tikal explains. "Its powers are immense and can only be tapped by us echidnas, but we can give the power to someone else."

"So you gave me the power to tap the Master Emerald like Knuckles does," Tails asks.

"No, silly," Tikal replies. "I don't know how you pass that on but I was told it's possible. I only gave you the power to control the Master Emerald's energy flow."

"Ah," Tails says. "So I'm basically just a weaker you."

"Yes," Tikal says. "Unfortunately, there's nothing more I can really tell you until the emerald is complete."

"Oh, I understand," Tails says. "By the way, why did really bestow such a major responsibility on me? It can't be just because I memorized your incantations."

"Well, that's part of the reason, but there's more to it," Tikal explains again. "You see, one person must always remain inside of the Master Emerald to regulate its powers. For the longest time it has just been me in there by myself."

"But what about the huge water monster, uh, Chaos," Tails asks. "What does he represent?"

"He's the heart of the Master Emerald," Tikal says. "Without him the Master Emerald would never be able to stay put together. He can also act as a controller of the powers of it as well."

"Oh," Tails says. "So if you were to leave then Chaos could manage the Master Emerald by himself."

"Yes," Tikal says. "The only reason I reside in it with him is because I have no reason to stay outside of it. The Master Emerald is immortal and so am I. My main purpose is to actually protect the Master Emerald, but someone is always doing it for me. That gives me no purpose to stay outside of it."

"So you reside in the Master Emerald by choice," Tails asks sadly. "Will you reside in the Master Emerald once we finish fixing it?"

"What are you trying to say," Tikal asks confusingly.

Tails jumps out of his chair and walks over to hers. He takes her hand.

"What I am trying to say is that I don't want you to leave," he explains sincerely. "I want you to stay outside of the Master Emerald with me. Since Robotnik is out of the way and we'll have the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald will be repaired and we must get rid of Cosmo and Shadow, once all that is taken care of we can live in peace. There will be no more fighting, and everything will be back to normal. Because of this, my life will be very boring. I couldn't imagine going through it without you."

Tails' speech brings a tear to Tikal's eyes. "Ok, if all those events become true, then I will stay here with you."

"That's all the motivation I need," Tails says happily. "I promise I won't let you down."

Then the helicopter shakes violently. Tails falls back into his chair. He looks ahead and sees nothing but battleships in his way. They are all huge and are in a weird formation. All of them are the color green.

"These look like Robotnik's old stuff, but they are all painted green," Tails says. "It makes no sense. Who is using them?"

A missile comes through the floor of the helicopter to the ceiling damaging the propellers and the engine. Tails grabs Tikal and gets her into flight formation. He jumps through the hole and hovers there for a few seconds. His helicopter has made a hole in the clouds as it plummets to the ground. This interruption makes Tails furious. Not only was his main means of transportation destroyed, but also someone ruined a pretty good moment. He now has a better view of the fleet. He counts nine aircrafts. They are all in V formation with the biggest one being in the back on the right. All crafts look the same except for the last one which is obviously the ship he needs to get to.

"Tails," Tikal screams. "I need you to toss me into the air."

"What," Tails exclaims.

"Just do it, trust me," she says.

Without second thought, Tails tosses her over his head. She glows for a bit then a band forms around Tails' waist and a bubble forms around Tikal. She gently floats back down right behind Tails.

"That's sweet," Tails screams. "Now I can carry you. Let's do this!"

Tails presses a button on shoes and his jet anklets come out. He flies towards the fleet as fast as possible. The first ship comes out of formation. It fires a missile at Tails. Tikal covers her eyes as she thinks she's about to experience eminent doom, but Tails has other plans. With all the strength he can muster, a swipe of his tail causes the missile to split in half then explode. The craft sends out two more missiles, this time one right after the other. He grabs the first one and throws it at the second one causing them to explode in midair.

"Ok, how did I just do that," he says in disbelief.

"I'm trying my best to help you out so I'm transmitting some of my powers to you," Tikal explains. "Well, it's more like extra energy. It's only temporary so we must get to the captain of the fleet as soon as possible."

"Nice," Tails exclaims.

The craft releases three more missiles. This time they are all heat seeking. Tails starts to have a little fun. He stops in midair with just his finger and plucks it off towards the craft destroying it. He grabs the other two missiles, one in each hand, and advances. Two more crafts came out of formation. Tails tosses a missile at one causing it to explode. The other one fires a missile at him so he throws his missile at it to counteract this.

_Hmm, I should try to use my emeralds. _After saying that, he yells Super Chaos Control. Once that kicks in, he darts through the craft creating a hole through it and it exploded on contact. Tikal can't even keep up with any of this since it's happening at the speed of light so she just closes her eyes. Tails flings himself towards the fleet before another craft could get out of formation. He starts on the left. The first one shoots a missile that Tails actually vaults off of. He kicks it down into the ocean. He flies through the craft carrying out its engine with it. He throws the engine at the next one in line causing it to explode. For the last craft on the left, Tails zips around it and grabs the back of it. He spins around in midair ten times then tosses the thing into the sun. The last two regular crafts are guarding the captain's ship. They both come at him as fast as possible. He shows off once more. He grabs the crafts, one in one hand and one in the other. He then slams them together creating a huge explosion thus destroying them instantly. Now his arms feel heavy and his tails hurt like crazy. He looks to the back to see Tikal panting.

"Good job," Tails says. "We got through the fleet. I'm not even bothering with whatever is going to be shot at us so I'll Chaos Control into the control room. Ready?"

Tails disappears right before another missile touched him. He lands in the control room which was easy to point out since it was enclosed in a huge, glass dome on the top of the ship. It's actually pretty advanced with more controls and glowing buttons than even Tails can make out. What he's more focused on is the red leather chair in front of him.

"Finally," Tails says. He walks towards the chair and grabs the top of it. "I got you now Cos, what in the world?"

"Hi Tails," Cream says. She jumps out of the chair and kicks Tails in the face then backflips onto her feet. Tails stumbles then falls. His arms are too heavy and his tails hurt like crazy. He can barely move let alone fight.

"What are you doing," Tails asks.

Before Cream could even answer, she's hit on the head with a vase. What a vase was doing in her control room no one will ever know, but Tikal found it and used it. Cream is knocked out cold.

"Way to go," Tails says. "If you don't mind, I was wondering if you could carry me to the captain's chair. I don't think I can move my legs or my tails."

She does so. Once there, Tails takes control of this thing. He pilots it towards his workshop.

"Oh wow, we have an estimated four hour flight this time," he says. "I would use Chaos Control, but I'm too weak too. I request one more favor, well actually two." With all the strength he has, he pushes open a part of the glass. He instructs Tikal to throw Cream through this which she does. Next thing he asks her to do is to try and find pieces of the Master Emerald and something that he could lay down on. She sets off through a door that has a big exit sign over it. The first door she comes across has a sign on top of it that says storage. She opens it and low and behold she finds ten pieces of the Master Emerald. She doesn't see anything else in here that would fit Tails' second requirement so she walks back to the control room.

"I got ten pieces of the Master Emerald but I found nothing for you to rest your head upon," Tikal says.

"Ah well, don't worry about it," he says weakly. "We found ten pieces so that's good enough for me."

"I have an idea," Tikal says. She picks Tails up from out of the chair. She sits in the chair. This chair is actually pretty huge. It's not long enough for Tails to lie down in properly, but it's still a huge chair. She sits in it like normal then lays Tails diagonally. Both of his legs can't fit in the whole chair, so they hang out to the side. The rest of his body fits perfectly with Tikal's lap becoming a pillow.

"Is it better for you like this," she asks.

"Yes, this works wonderfully," Tails says. "Thank you so much."

Tikal kisses Tails on his forehead and he blushes. He wishes that he could get up and return the favor in a better way, but his body won't allow him to do so.


	13. The Return of the Prophet

**Chapter 13: The Return of the Prophet**

"Sonic," Amy screams right in his ear. "When will we get there?"

"Almost there," Sonic says. "Look, it's over there in the distance."

Amy is currently sitting on Sonic's shoulders and they are running through the scorching desert. The sun is out in full force today with its rays beating down on Sonic's head so hard that the wind he's creating from running so fast is not even helping. They are heading in the direction of a legendary water palace that was rumored to be powered by a mysterious gem. This gem is of course a Chaos Emerald. Sonic is now currently standing at the top of a sand dune. From here, the palace is completely visible. It appears to be white and made out of marble. It's enclosed in a huge, cement gate with metal bars as the opening. He can't notice anything else from here so he continues. Once Sonic approaches the gate, Amy jumps off his back.

"How do we get in," she asks as she looks up.

"This would be so much easier if Tails was here," Sonic remarks. He rests his back against the wall. "Carrying you is beginning to kill me."

Right in front of the gate, a green light appears. It splits creating a portal which Silver comes out of.

"Oh wow it's Silver," Amy says happily. "You came to bring us good news about the future?"

Silver laughs. "You guys are right in front of the water palace like I predicted. At this rate, the future will still remain bleak," he replies.

"What do you mean," Sonic asks. "Have all our efforts so far have been for nothing?"

"I hate to say it, but yes," Silver explains. "There are three main things you guys need to make happen as soon as possible. You need to fix the Master Emerald, you need to destroy Cosmo, and you need to figure out how to give Tails control of the Master Emerald equal to Knuckles. If one of these three things doesn't happen, then the future will still remain as I have said."

"No way, so the Chaos Emeralds are irrelevant," Amy asks.

"You guys came here for a _rumored _Chaos Emerald, right," Silver implies. "Check the emerald tracker."

Amy looks at it. Nothing shows up on radar.

"Aw man, we made a blank trip," Sonic screams. "What a complete waste of time."

"If I'm correct, you guys have two Chaos Emeralds. The one you found in the air base, and other one Knuckles found. You have two of them. Someone else has five of them. While you idiots went on with your free day not doing anything, someone else took the liberty of doing a little emerald hunting with no interruptions at all. This other person is obvious, which is why your priority one should be going after the crazy plant. As a matter of fact, it's best to do it like this. You two and Knuckles and Rouge should search for the pieces of the Master Emerald because Cosmo needs them too so you will eventually run into her while Tails and Tikal figures out how to give Tails the power to tap the Master Emerald. I would tell you directly, but I have no idea how it's done. Anyway, remember what I said. Until those three things are achieved, then Cosmo will manage to have her way with Tails and it won't end well. One more thing, if you guys ever come into possession of all Chaos Emeralds, give them to Tails," Silver says.

Sonic looks at him like he is crazy. "Some of this stuff is kind of hard to understand," Sonic tells him. "Basically, all we got to do is give Tails and Tikal time to themselves, destroy Cosmo and possible nab the Chaos Emerald while we're at it, and put the Master Emerald back together? There are just two things I don't understand. Why is Cosmo so scary and how will Tails and Tikal figure out the Master Emerald thing?"

"Don't underestimate Cosmo," Silver warns him. "She can fight almost as well as Shadow, she's as smart as Tails, and she has access to Robotnik's Lair since you blew that off during your party day too. To top it all off, she now has Shadow's undivided attention. All that stuff that took place on the beach and in the air base were Cosmo's orders. Cosmo just acted as bait."

"How did that happen," Sonic asks. "And how does that Master Emerald thing work. Got any hints?"

"That I do not know," Silver says sadly. "Knuckles does, since Rouge has it, but I don't know all the details. She doesn't know that she has it either and when she did find out it ended up being too late. Just remember the three tasks I gave you guys and everything will be alright."

"Good," Sonic exclaims. "I recorded our whole conversation through my watch. I promise that Knuckles and I will make sure this goes through. Amy, take my hand. We are going to the workshop by means of Chaos Control." They disappear in a flash. Sonic then comes back alone. "One more thing. If this whole big bad future is caused by the Master Emerald breaking, then why did you not go back into the past before it broke and prevented Tails from breaking it?"

"Wow," Silver says as he slaps himself. "Well, I feel stupid. I would go do that now, but we have technology in the future that's licensed for time travel only twice a year and I used my two times."

"Way to go," Sonic remarks sarcastically. He leaves for good this time.

Once they return to the workshop, they find Knuckles and Rouge already here. On the table lie five pieces of the Master Emerald.

"Nice job you two," Sonic says as he lies on his stomach in the couch.

"What's wrong with your back," Knuckles asks.

"Amy needs to lay off her ice cream," Sonic says as he laughs. "Anyway, we have to get Tails and Tikal here as soon as possible. We ran across Silver and he told us a bunch of information."

"Ever since we got here we have been trying to get in contact with them but we get no response," Rouge says. "They must be too far away."

"Well, Tails and Tikal really need to hear this so we must wait for them," Sonic explains.

About two hours into their flight, Tails wakes up. He slowly opens his eyes. He looks ahead to see a sunset through the window. He picks his head up.

"I feel so much better now," he remarks. He looks to his right and sees a sleeping Tikal.

"Oh yeah, that's right, Tikal helped me out big time back when we destroyed that fleet," he recalls. "I guess I should find a way to teleport back to the workshop without waking her up."

Tails takes out both emeralds he has with him. He puts one in her hand slowly so he doesn't wake her up. He holds on to the other then uses his version of Chaos Control to get out of there.

His teleportation was perfect. Tikal lands in his bed, and he lands right on side of it. Tails walks out of the room and to the front of the place where everyone else is.

"You made it back," Sonic says. "Abusing that Chaos Control I see."

"Well, it comes in handy," Tails remarks. He adds to the pile of pieces of the Master Emerald with what Tikal found.

"Alright, we now got fifteen of them," Knuckles says. "Oh yeah, Sonic said he got stuff for you."

"Where is Tikal," Sonic asks. "She needs to hear this too."

"She's sleeping, I'll tell her later," Tails explains. "What's the deal?"

Sonic plays back the whole message through his watch to a stunned crowd.

"Something seems fishy about all this," Knuckles says. He leans back in his chair with his hand on his head. "Silver could have prevented this by himself. Nobody can be that stupid. He knows exactly what happened to us in the past and he knows what is happening to us now. If he knows all that then he knows that Tails broke the Master Emerald. He could have prevented it, but he didn't. No one would make such a simple mistake if it could change the whole future for the better."

"Wow, Knuckles is right on the money," Tails says. "This makes no sense. Although his solutions to our current problems kind of mirror what we are trying to achieve, his credibility is demolished after such a stupid mistake."

"I thought it was weird too," Sonic says. "On one hand, he gave us much information that's turning out to be true as time goes on. On the other hand, he obviously didn't go all the way into the past and stop Tails from destroying the missile on purpose. What is he planning?"

"I think he is probably just using us," Rouge says. "Think about it. Shadow and Cosmo are nobodies that we can put down in an instant, and that has been proven time and time again. Even Amy almost had Cosmo beat and Tails can run circles around Shadow thanks to your training, but yet he constantly puts emphasis on getting them out the way and collecting the emeralds."

"But if that's the case then why would he want Tails to have control over the Master Emerald like Knuckles does," Amy asks. "That would benefit us too greatly."

"Man, this is confusing," Sonic screams in frustration. "I say we do this. We need to figure out how Tails is supposed to be able to control the Master Emerald. Silver kept saying he's supposed to get it from Tikal or something. After that, we need to get the Master Emerald pieces and Chaos Emeralds from Cosmo but without killing her. If we have everything then Silver will most likely try to come after us to get it. Cosmo won't let him get away with that since she will be after us too, and I'm pretty sure that if we help out Silver won't stand a chance. After that, then we get rid of Cosmo."

"Sounds like a plan, but what if Silver knows this," Knuckles asks.

"He thinks we still trust him because I didn't react strongly when he told me his obvious lie," Sonic remembers. "I just sort of joked with him. I'm pretty sure if I would have reacted strongly, then we probably would have ended up fighting. That telekinesis stuff is crazy."

"Nice," Knuckles says. "Now about this Master Emerald transference thing. I don't know how it's done. According to Silver, Rouge is supposed to have this power. I'm not sure what I could have done that would give her the power. I didn't even know that passing things like this on was possible."

"Maybe Silver lied and Rouge doesn't have the power," Sonic says. "Is there a way we can test it?"

"I have no idea. I'm not fluent with the teachings of my old tribe," Knuckles says.

"Well, what's a special thing that you are able to do," Sonic asks.

"I'm able to make a few pieces of the Master Emerald come together and form an incomplete Master Emerald," Knuckles says.

"Sweet, let's see if Rouge can do it," Sonic orders.

"But how do I do it," she asks.

"All you have to do is hold all the pieces in your hands and bring them together," Knuckles explains. "If you have the power, they will glow then assemble."

Rouge picks up all the pieces. They glow then assemble.

"Ok, Silver is seriously starting to get on my nerves," Sonic says. "He's right about that too!"

"I see what you mean. I don't understand why he would give us such valuable information, some that could be his downfall, if he is trying to use us," Tails says. "Anyway, the plan that Sonic came up with seems like the way to go. Let's get this Master Emerald thing out of the way first. Are you sure there's nothing special you guys might have done that would trigger such a thing?"

"I don't know, Tails," Knuckles says. "I seriously couldn't tell you."

"It's just that I don't want to take up so much time trying to figure this out while Cosmo grabs everything making it harder for us," Tails says. "This is a real bummer."

"Oh wait, I got a headache with an explanation," Knuckles blurts out.

"Cool, he got an idea," Sonic says.

"Silver says that it's _passed on_. That means that it's something within Tikal that must come out of her and transfer to you," Knuckles explains.

"I'm still not following it," Tails says. "How could I take something from Tikal and transfer it to myself? Tikal has nothing to take."

"Maybe she does," Knuckles implies.

"I still don't get it," Tails says.

Sonic jumps out of the couch. "We will end up sitting here and giving Tails one-hundred hints before he understands. What Knuckles is hinting at is that you must take Tikal's, uh, what's that word? It's like on the tip of my tongue," Sonic thinks for a bit. "Oh yeah, virginity, you got to take that."

"What," Tails screams while holding his ears.


	14. Emeralds, Emeralds, and More Emeralds

**Chapter 14: Emeralds, Emeralds, and More Emeralds  
**

"Lalala, I'm not listening, lalala, I'm not listening," Tails screams in the corner of the room with his hands over his ears.

"Aw man, what are we going to do now," Sonic says. "This will be tough."

"I don't know," Knuckles replies. "Now do you see why I was trying to hint at it? He's smart, he can fight, but he's still has the mind of a kid."

"And you know what else," Amy asks. "Tails will not be able to even look Tikal in the eyes for a while."

Sonic runs over to Tails and grabs him by a tail. He lifts Tails up with him hanging upside-down. His eyes are open wide and they are watery. His expression is so sad.

"Sonic, please help me," Tails begs.

"I can't," Sonic says. "There's nothing I can tell you. I have not done anything myself. I hate to say this, but Knuckles must help you this time."

"Nooooooooooooooo," Tails screams. Sonic throws Tails to Knuckles.

"Uh, I really don't have anything to tell you," Knuckles explains. "Hmm, let me put it like this. So far, you have probably noticed things you can do that make Tikal happy. I mean, I'm pretty sure that Master Emerald thing was not the only time you kissed her, right?"

Tails just shakes his head to say yes.

"Good. If you were to do those things more frequently and on a bigger scale, then maybe, just maybe you might be able to get somewhere," Knuckles says. "That's really all there is to it."

"But that's common sense," Tails says. "I need to know the other stuff."

"Ah well, let's go get more pieces of the Master Emerald," Sonic orders quickly. "First two people that touch me get to bail out!" Amy and Rouge wastes no time in Sonic's decision, and they are gone in a flash. Knuckles stands there with his hand out, but he was too slow.

"This is weird," Knuckles remarks as he sits back down in his chair. "You are smart, right? Surely you know about this stuff."

"That's a very dumb statement," Tails replies seriously. "I actually thought it over and I realized that I must do this in order to save the planet. What if we told Tikal this? Would that make this better?"

Knuckles puts his hand on his face. "No, no you idiot. You seriously don't realize how important this is to your relationship? Telling her about this whole ordeal will only force her to do it. That's not good at all. You need to make her want to do it. You can't force this."

"I see," Tails says with his hand on his chin.

"I obviously see that you are thinking way too hard about this," Knuckles says as he puts his head down. "Let me make it simpler. All you need to do is focus on strengthening your relationship with her. Because of your plans and your determination, you have saved her life a few times already. You are basically already in. You got to focus on the little things now. Find out what she likes, spend as much time with her as you can, and stuff like that. You goal here is to make her love you more. Once you accomplish that then this task will become much easier. For example, you know how Tikal is always at your bedside whenever you are weak or hurt and she takes care of you? Go do that for her."

"I get it now," Tails says as his head has a revelation. "Thanks. You are not as dumb as you look." Tails runs up the stairs.

"I'll let that one slide," Knuckles says.

Tails runs upstairs and opens the door to his room. There's a huge hole in the ceiling going straight through his laboratory to the outside. His bed is gone too. Knuckles comes upstairs.

"I sort of saw this coming," Knuckles remarks as he looks up.

"What I don't understand is how anyone got into my lab in the first place," Tails says.

"Did you change the password to your lab after Cosmo left," Knuckles asks.

Tails slaps himself on the head. He runs to his lab. He looks outside and he sees something flying off in the distance.

"Let's go get them, Tails," Knuckles suggests.

"You stay here, I'm doing this alone." Tails flies through the hole in his ceiling and follows the plane.

Once outside, the weather is obviously not agreeing with him as he can see. It's nighttime. The moon is completely covered by clouds which are raining down very hard. This doesn't bother Tails at all. He activates his jet anklets and follows the plane. It's now beginning to thunder. Tails sees the lightening in the distance, but this doesn't worry him at all. The only problem here is whoever is in that plane. With his jet anklets out, he's only able to go at the speed of the plane that's getting away from him. He will never catch up like that, so he uses Chaos Control. He teleports to the top of the plane. It's not really that big. To the front he sees a place for the pilot, but he can't make out who it is. Where he's at now is the back part of it. It seems like a cargo hold. He opens the door on the top and drops in. He opens the door in this room and heads towards the control room. He doesn't even say anything. He just grabs the person in the seat which is Cosmo.

"Where is Tikal," Tails demands.

"I'll tell you," Cosmo says calmly.

"What," Tails screams. "Don't play games with me. Speak."

"But you are a game," Cosmo replies.

"I don't have time for this," Tails says. "Tell me now before I send you through that window!"

"I'm not telling you anything with that kind of attitude," Cosmo remarks.

"That's it you stupid plant," Tails says. He grabs her by the neck. "Well, I'm supposed to do this anyway." He starts to hear a countdown starting at three. Tails is not pleased. "I should have seen this coming." He drops the fake Cosmo, sits in the pilot seat, and hits the eject button. He flies into the air then watches the front part of the plane explode. With Tails now being angry beyond control, he goes to the obvious place where Cosmo would most likely be at. He teleports himself to in front Robotnik's base. The door is locked shut. There's a speaker right next to it.

"I was expecting you, Tails," Cosmo says through the speaker. "Please come in." The door swings open. The place is blocked off. All he sees in front of him is a glass tube. He jumps in it. Air pushes him through the tubes. Each tube is connected to every room in the lab. He lands on his face. He jumps to his feet and looks around. Cosmo is in his direct line of sight. She's sitting in a huge chair. Tails turns around to notice monitors on the other side of the wall. They are linked to cameras that have been put around the whole place.

"Thanks for instantly bringing me here," Tails says. "That makes things so much easier."

"I would wipe that look off your face if I was you," Cosmo says. She presses a button the armrest of her chair. From a door to the left, Shadow and Cream comes out carrying Tikal. Tikal is wrapped up in tape. Her mouth is taped up so she can't say anything.

"Now do you understand," Cosmo remarks. Tails looks at her with the intent to kill. "I want to make you an offer. Swear your undying loyalty to me and I promise that Tikal will be spared."

"Are you freaking crazy," Tails says as he laughs. "Chaos Control!" Tails looks around frantically. Shadow and Cream are just looking the other way. "Chaos Control!"

Cosmo chuckles. "What did you think I made you go through the air pipe for? Its air was electric charged. It extracted the Chaos Emerald from you."

"I see," he pulls out the full set of Super Emeralds. "You know, Sonic and Knuckles has no use for these since the Chaos Emeralds are Sonic's bag and the Master Emerald is Knuckles' bag. This set of emeralds is mine. I have been entrusted with these. These are the only emeralds I can use. My only problem is that I still need a Chaos Emerald for me to perform Chaos Control, but I can still use these for other things. I made sure to grab these before leaving my lab. So, let me offer you a suggestion. Give me Tikal and maybe I won't burn you alive," he explains to a stunned crowd.

"What can you do with those," Cosmo asks with a worried look on her face.

"You only understand action," Tails replies. The Super Emerald starts to float above Tails' head. He jumps in the middle. The emeralds start to glow. They turn into golden birds that float around him in a circle. "Now I'll take Tikal back by force," he screams.

Shadow laughs. "Wow, that is the lamest thing I have ever seen," he says while he holds his side.

"The little birds look cute," Cosmo says.

"Laughing at my super form," Super Tails says. "You guys are idiots."

He picks up his hand and points at Shadow and Cream. One of the birds flies off faster than the speed of Chaos Control. Before anyone could even blink, Shadow and Cream are on the floor laid out while Tikal is being carried around Tails by one of his birds.

"As long as I have these, I'm invincible," he says with a smile. "I know I'm supposed to kill you, but I don't want Tikal to see me do it so I'll leave for now. Next time we meet I guess I'll bring a flamethrower or something." He leaves in a flash after that and leaves Cosmo stunned.

He arrives back at the workshop. He lays Tikal on the couch. His super form goes away and he gathers all his emeralds back up. He pulls out some scissors and cuts the tape off of Tikal.

"I'm sorry," Tails says. "I knew you were weak from helping me out earlier so I should have taken care of you instead of leaving you in my room."

Tikal hugs him. "It's ok. I knew you would come save me and you did so that is all that matters," she says with a smile.

Tails thinks about it for a moment. He was about to tell her about what Silver said, but then he remembered what Knuckles said.

"You must still be tired I guess," Tails says. "If you want, I'll go get the other bed I have out of storage and bring that into my room. You can sleep on that."

"Nah, this is ok," Tikal says. "I'm not actually tired, just a little weak. Also, my neck and back hurt a little."

"Aw, is there anything I can do," he asks. "I'll do anything. Tonight is all about you."

"Why," Tikal asks.

"Because, without you we wouldn't have ten pieces of the Master Emerald and that fleet would have definitely captured us," Tails explains. "That pales in comparison to my normal save you routine. You are very useful."

"I have one request," Tikal says. "Could you rub my back for me?"

"Uh," Tails hesitates. "Okay."

Knuckles went to the one tree in Tails' backyard. He finds Sonic, Amy, and Rouge sitting under this tree.

"You guys were here the whole time," Knuckles asks.

"Yeah, we just wanted to leave you alone with Tails," Sonic says. "How did it go, knucklehead?"

"I have no idea," Knuckles says as he takes a seat. "Tikal was captured so Tails went go do the whole heroic deed thing and recused her. Once they returned I came out here."

"How long do we stay out here," Amy asks.

"I say we go somewhere until Tails tries to contact us," Rouge says. "If we just walk into the workshop at the wrong time then we could ruin everything."

"True dat," Knuckles remarks. "Where are we going?"

"I know where I feel like going," Sonic says. "I want to be a spy."

"No you don't," Amy disagrees. "That's just wrong."

"Hey, I'm bored," Sonic answers. "Oh, idea. Let's go into Tails' laboratory."

"Good idea," Knuckles says. "Chaos Control can get us pass the metal ceiling."

Everyone touches Sonic and he uses Chaos Control to get them inside. Once inside, Sonic takes a seat in Tails' huge chair. He presses a button in the armrest that makes some screens pop up from a compartment in the table.

"Alright, the security cameras," Knuckles says. "Way to go."

"I saw Tails do this a few times," Sonic explains. "Anyway, check out the camera for the front. I see stuff."

"Alright, Tails is getting somewhere," Knuckles exclaims. "By the way, is Tails a masseur?"


End file.
